Since first arriving on screens in 2013, the Akubra-wearing outback detective Jay Swan has made his mark, joining 1920s fashionista Phryne Fisher and the whiskey-sodden, cardie-wearing Jack Irish in the pantheon of Australia’s all-time greatest screen sleuths. With all the multiverse narratives flying around these days, perhaps Fisher could tumble through a portal into contemporary times and the three could reminisce on their most challenging investigations and favourite “aha, it was you all along” monologues.
Except now the gods of the multiverse would have two Jay Swans to choose from: one played by Aaron Pedersen – who has been the franchise’s gravitas-oozin’ core feature – and a substantially younger version played by Mark Coles Smith. The latter fills some very big cowboy boots in Mystery Road: Origin, thankfully delivering a performance that’s more than up to snuff. Like his predecessor, Coles Smith delivers a gruff kind of sensibility; he’s a very measured, very controlled presence, full of subtle gestures that, cumulatively, have a large effect.
