Rebel Ridge

I don't know why Netflix dumped this movie on its platform yesterday with absolutely zero marketing and zero festival screenings. And sure, the title is very generic and not very encouraging, but ignore that. This is one of the best action films I've seen in a very long time.

I wouldn't call Jeremy Saulnier one of my favorite directors as much as say that he makes movies that close a fist around my heart and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze until the credits roll and I can finally take a breath. Green Room was a lot like that, as was the more moody Hold the Dark. And he did it again here.

Terry Richmond is a former Marine who just wants to post bail for his cousin. He also happens to be Black, and while it's never specified exactly where Shelby Springs is located, the use of "parish" instead of "county" implies it's in Louisiana. After the bail money is unjustly seized by the corrupt police, things quickly escalate out of control.

The opening sequence is incredibly harrowing. It immediately sets the tone. Terry does everything right, but there's just a pit in your stomach because you know that it won't matter. We're a few years removed from the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, but it doesn't matter because you still recognize a lot of the same imagery.

It's not all pain and suffering, though. There are real moments of exhilarating joy. A particular standout involves Terry racing a bus and people cheering him on. Even though he's practically superhuman in that scene, it's an incredible human impulse. It's something bright and joyful. It makes the dark parts all the sharper because of it.

It's easy to make the comparison to First Blood. There's definitely some Rambo in Terry and his interactions with law enforcement. Aaron Pierre carries an incredible amount of gravitas with him and the way that he holds himself. There's just something about the evenness of his voice and the steadiness of his gaze. I immediately placed him on my "I Will Watch Whatever This Actor Is In" list.

The plot doesn't go full Rambo, though. It's a long movie, over two hours, and there's a lot of time spent delving into legalese and how civil bureaucracy works. These segments are helped by a very strong AnnaSophia Robb, who plays county clerk Summer. It never drags, even if I was hoping for a bit more action.

If I had one complaint, it would be that the payoff never matches the anticipation that builds the entire time. I would have loved a full thirty minutes of carnage, and I fully expected it to happen. It just never does. Which, to be fair, is keeping in character with Terry. He isn't and never was Rambo, nor is he someone like Frank Castle. Terry is someone who deescalates. It's not his fault if the Chief won't let that happen.

But that's a minor complaint. We do still get some carnage. The payoff, when it does occur, is still a ton of fun with long one-shots and subtle character work that feels earned because we spent so long building up to it. Rebel Ridge is a pressure cooker, and it still whistles at the end.

Random Thoughts

I loved how you could still see taser burns on characters in later scenes. It isn't something that is weightless or goes away. It sticks.

Terry wears a bracelet later on. The camera never calls attention to it, but it's a fantastic detail as well.

I also appreciated the subtlety in how the different police characters were shaded. It would have been easy to make them all corrupt monsters, but they weren't. They were people.

Rebel Ridge was in production hell for awhile. Between Covid delays and the lead actor dropping out a month into the filming, a lot of things went wrong. Although being able to cast Pierre instead was a blessing in disguise.

~~~~
An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.

• Movie Reviews home