PLOT: A former marine (Aaron Pierre) takes on the corrupt police force of a small town.
REVIEW: Jeremy Saulnier has always struck me as a talent to watch. From his small-scale debut, Blue Ruin, to his genre breakthrough, Green Room, he’s always had a talent for mixing bone-crunching violence with a surprising amount of soulfulness. While I thought his last film, Hold The Dark, was a mixed bag, it had one incredible shoot-out about mid-way through the movie that made me think that Saulnier, should he ever go that route, would make one heck of a legit action film.
Lucky for us, he went that route.
Rebel Ridge is probably Saulnier’s most conventional and accessible film to date, but it also ranks as one of the most entertaining films Netflix, which is dropping the film this week, has made in some time. Gorgeously shot and featuring a breakout performance by Aaron Pierre in the lead, this smart, lean, and mean thriller should be a word-of-mouth hit for the streamer.
Infamously, this is the movie that John Boyega quit after it had already started shooting. While that fact would likely spell disaster for most films, in some ways, this has been a blessing for Rebel Ridge, as it led to them casting Aaron Pierre, a little-known English actor, in a role that fits him to a tee. Here, he plays Terry Richmond, a former marine run off the road (on his bicycle, no less) by small-town cops who confiscate the $30k he was carrying to bail his cousin out of jail and start over with. Richmond, who has a clean criminal record and can account for the cash, is doubly desperate to get his cousin released, as he’s a former government witness who’s been marked for death by the gang he testified against. A stint in jail will cost him his life.
As such, Terry is more than willing to put up with the police chief (Don Johnson) running the dirty cops to recover at least enough cash to get his cousin out. Johnson, who – for people like me – is best known for playing two of the most heroic screen cops of all time (Sonny Crockett and Nash Bridges), plays way against type as the oily, scumbag chief, who seethes at Terry’s every attempt to resolve the situation in a way that leaves him somewhat whole. To him, Terry is nothing – a blip -, and he feels entitled to take whatever he can get under the pretense that the money goes “back into the community” and keeps his town, Shelby Springs, independent, which also allows him to stay the cock of the walk.
While this may sound more than a little like First Blood (ignorant cops hassle heroic veteran), Saulnier does a few interesting things with the premise while also paying homage to the movie that clearly inspired him. For one, our hero, Terry, does everything he can to de-escalate the situation, facing things more intellectually than Rambo. The two heroes are similar in that when push comes to shove, they are still ultimately noble and resist ever using deadly force, even if their opponents are begging for it. While playing a repugnant villain (and seemingly having a whale of a time playing against type), Johnson also portrays the character as not totally lacking in common sense, with him making one legitimate attempt perhaps to find a little middle ground with his opponent, only to overstep continually. Johnson’s portrayal is grounded and nuanced, and he never allows his character to become an over-the-top villain.
The film also offers AnnaSophia Robb a nice role as a court clerk who attempts to help Terry put her in the crosshairs of Johnson and his men, with his main footsoldier being an incredibly skeevy cop played by Emory Cohen at his most despicable. A more simplistic film would have presented all the cops as grotesquely evil, but two of them, played by David Denman (Roy from The Office) and Zsane Jhe, reveal many more layers as the film continues.
But what makes Rebel Ridge such a must-watch movie are the action sequences, which are shot in a lean, mean, and realistic way. You see, in the film, Terry is a former close combat instructor, and those are the tactics he uses to take on his opponents, with Pierre thrillingly adept in the well-staged martial arts sequences. This kind of action role makes a guy like him a star, and one has to imagine that the suits at Marvel and DC will be keeping an eye on him. Pierre was actually once slotted to co-star in the Blade reboot (he actually would be great in the titular role), and is voicing Mufasa in Barry Jenkins’ Lion King prequel. The future is bright for him, and Boyega’s loss here is clearly his gain.
Through it all, Saulnier dynamically paces the film with interesting needle drops, such as the Iron Maiden track that opens it. Curiously, Netflix isn’t bringing Rebel Ridge to the fall festivals, as it would have rocked TIFF’s Midnight Madness. But, whatever the case, it’s a must-watch when it hits the streamer this week. I had a blast with it.