THE STRANGER is one of the earlier straight-to-video thrillers that wrestler-turned-actor Steve Austin made during his career. It's a nasty little digital-looking production which lacks decent photography and has only a handful of half-hearted fight scenes to recommend it. It's below the quality of most of the other Austin movies I've seen, which tend to be mildly entertaining, average-quality pictures enlivened by decent fight scenes at least. Austin is once again a wronged man who has to go up against various corrupt and nefarious criminal types, but you'll be asleep long before the credits roll.

"The Stranger" is a routine, adequate action thriller that mostly works as a vehicle for wrestling star "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Stone Cold plays the title role, a bad ass who keeps changing his identity and line of work as he travels cross country. The earnest psychiatrist who hopes to help him recover his true identity is Grace Bishop, played by Erica Serra. The other recurring character in his life is Mason Reese (Adam Beach),an FBI agent who also seems to know a whole lot.

Stone Cold actually isn't the problem here. He has a strong screen presence, but also does not embarrass himself when it comes to acting. He gets to speak multiple languages, as well. The supporting actors - Ron Lea, Viv Leacock, and Jason Schombing as various Federal agents - are decent enough, with Beach an obvious standout. The movie can't be faulted in terms of pacing, but the story (by Quinn Scott) is patently predictable and pretty ridiculous. What makes "The Stranger" hard to watch much of the time is the overused technique of rapid fire editing and chaotic camera movement. You just wish the picture would stay still.

The movie (mildly) amuses, and is instantly forgettable.

Although set in the United States, it's all too clear that it was shot in Canada.

Five out of 10.

My taste in films is wide and varied. I enjoy art-house and foreign dramas as much as I enjoy cheap shoot-em-ups and stoogey comedies. But in order to ENJOY them, the films have to be ENJOYABLE. This film did not fit that category.

The story itself isn't too bad - a bit in the style of Momento or the Bourne trilogy: a special agent (Steve Austin) who is robbed of his life, loses his memory and is on the run. He is being helped by his faithful psychiatrist (Erica Cerra),who risks her own safety in order to try to help Austin to remember his life and to combat the bad guys.

O.k. Nothing groundbreaking, but there was potential. Unfortunately the directing took all of this away. We have "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - one of the biggest action stars of our time, so surely this should lead to some great action and gutsy fight scenes. No, half of the time Austin is being made to look like a weakling as he winces and breaks down every time someone slaps him. When he occasionally decides to fight back he is slow, lumbering, and can pull nothing out of the bag more exciting than a punch on the nose.

And how many flashbacks did we need? There are some scenes which are repeated almost constantly throughout the film, all in cheesy slow motion, showing smiling wife and giggling daughter, combined with the sound of an explosion. Yes, I think we got the point Mr Director. And don't even get me started on the motorbike scene. Someone obviously decided it would be a brilliant idea to have Steve racing through the country tracks on a big Harley. Perhaps someone should have checked whether Steve was willing to do this before they start filming. He's going so slow I'm surprised the bike doesn't topple over, and so the director "jazzes" it up with flickering shots of wheels, Austin's face doing its best to act the emotion: "perturbed", Cerra looking like she's taking a Sunday stroll, and some heavy music to get our adrenaline up. I nearly turned the film off there and then.

I'm sorry to sound like a smart-arse, but also this film must hold the record for the number of shots fired at one individual (all from short distance) without any getting anywhere near him. It wouldn't be so bad if he were doing anything other than trundle in a straight line away from them as they fire for minutes on end directly at him. Let the set tea-boy handle the action scenes. I think we'd get more enjoyment.

What could have been an enjoyable film, is ruined by some of the worst "action" directing I have seen for a very long time.