The Dry (2021)

The Dry is the kind of crime thriller that doesn’t chase cheap shocks—it earns its tension through atmosphere, restraint, and the slow, tightening grip of a town that remembers everything. Eric Bana is terrific as a federal agent forced back into a parched hometown where grief, suspicion, and old grudges hang in the air like heat shimmer, and Robert Connolly directs with the patience of someone confident the truth will hit harder when it finally arrives. The drought-stricken setting isn’t just scenery; it feels like a moral landscape, cracked open and exposing what people tried to bury, while the mystery unfolds with mature, clear-eyed storytelling. If you prefer breakneck twists and nonstop action, this may feel deliberately paced, but if you like your thrillers simmering, human, and quietly devastating, it’s absolutely worth the trip.

The Dry is clearly aiming for a slow-burn Australian mystery where the real villain is a town’s long memory, with the drought-soaked setting doing a lot of heavy lifting for the mood. The problem is it can feel more atmospheric than gripping: the pacing is deliberately languid, the flashbacks are frequent enough to blur momentum, and the central mystery isn’t as clever or surprising as the film wants you to think. If you need tight plotting, big twists, or a thriller that actually thrills minute-to-minute, this may test your patience and even feel a bit undercooked in plausibility. Still, Eric Bana is solidly watchable and the bleak, parched visuals give it a distinctive tone—just go in expecting simmering tension, not fireworks.