Judging by that short, spoiler-free summary alone, it shouldn't be surprising to hear that Mystery Road earned dazzling reviews from critics upon its initial release in 2013 and has continued to rake in rave responses over the years. It sits at a glorious 92 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with its consensus reading, "Mystery Road evokes classic Westerns while using its Australian outback setting to delve into a surprisingly layered — and powerfully impactful — array of social issues."
Lisa Giles-Keddie of HeyUGuys gave the film a perfect score in her review from 2013. "Ivan Sen has found a pitch-perfect niche in the crime-thriller genre with his new film Mystery Road, set in the Australian outback. This marvelously atmospheric and sumptuous-looking film has all the mellow attitude of a Western, pausing to take in panoramic, burnt-orange sunrises and sunsets, while punctuated by bursts of action sequences straight out of a cowboy shootout, following mounting tension," she wrote. "Its awesome setting and tenacious hero make it an absolute must-see, especially for Western fans."
The Guardian's Leslie Felperin said of Mystery Road in an August 2014 review, "Director Ivan Sen's fourth feature evokes old Westerns, Polanski's Chinatown, and other noir classics, but still feels grounded in the dust and dried blood of the Australian soil [...] Slow-burn action pays off with a spectacular climactic gun-fight, where the distances are so vast it takes half a second for bullets to find their marks."
The organizers of We Are One also sung Mystery Road's praises; its programming description reads in part, "[Sen] molds the shape of a Western into a startling social thriller about racial tensions in contemporary Australia; as it slashes stereotypes that have peppered its national cinema, it lays bare the everyday risks faced by Aboriginal communities. With each simmering revelation, Sen builds a masterful suspense from Pedersen's quiet ferocity."
