Jeremy Saulnier’s fifth feature film, Rebel Ridge, is not only one of the best action films of the last few years, it also feels like the defining, post-2020 activist piece. It feels like a somewhat left-field turn for Saulnier, who has stuck to directing various types of thrillers and even dipping his toes in the horror genre. I would have never imagined him trying his hand at a movie like this, dealing with themes like systemic corruption and racism however. Fortunately, Saulnier absolutely kills it and this ambitious venture more than pays off. Rebel Ridge is easily one of my favorites of the year and it has solidified its place in my one-man-army canon.
The film opens with the iconic riff and lyrics of Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” (I wonder who the beast is referring to…) as Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre), a young Black man, rides a bicycle through the tree-lined roads of a small town called Shelby Springs. The song is suddenly cut short when we’re jumpscared by the appearance of a police car that rams our protagonist and he’s thrown forward onto the road and we are immediately thrown into this chaotic encounter. Two White cops (David Denman and Emory Cohen) appear with un-holstered weapons, cuss Terry out, and aggressively question and manhandle him, all the while keeping their guns trained on him and threatening to tase him.
The cops persuade Terry to let them search through his belongings, threatening a K-9 unit if he doesn’t consent to the search, and they find a large amount of cash in his possession. This is not less-than-legal in the slightest, however they accuse him of carrying drug currency without any evidence pointing to this conclusion and no explanation as to how they reached it. Terry explains the cash is for posting bail for his cousin but the officers don’t relent and confiscate the cash, letting Terry go with a traffic violation but threatening to arrest him if he tries to fight the charge against his money.
Terry needs that money for his cousin, and every minute that he doesn’t have it, his cousin’s situation becomes more and more dire. He searches for every possible avenue for more money or to delay the bail deadline but ultimately his only option is to get the money back from the police. He appeals to the chief (Don Johnson) but when he’s threatened, Terry fights back and the police learn who they are actually dealing with. Terry Richmond is no ordinary man, but a former Marine and expert in nonlethal, unarmed combat. Terry, single-handedly, wages a war against the small-town police and with the help of court clerk, Summer (AnnaSophia Robb), discovers a massive conspiracy that the police will kill to cover up. Every minute of this conflict is a pleasure to watch. Rebel Ridge is the anti-cop, anti-establishment power fantasy that we’ve needed for so long.
On May 25th, 2020, Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, unlawfully murdered George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by kneeling on his neck for several minutes. The murder was filmed and the footage circulated over the internet and news and the world erupted. Millions of people mobilized to demonstrate against the police and the system that protected them and perpetuated crimes against marginalized groups. Hundreds of years of police brutality, unlawful murders protected by qualified immunity, and general systemic racism culminated into this single moment and the people had enough of it. Since 2020, the relationship between marginalized communities and the police has only worsened and distrust has grown, which is why Rebel Ridge is so topical.
The film undoubtedly takes a stance and promotes a message and many will certainly decry it for doing so or call the film’s agenda heavy-handed. Nothing in the film’s inciting incident was unrealistic, however. Countless Black Americans are consistently profiled for no discernible reason other than the color of their skin and falsely accused of crimes they did not commit. The American police system has been, since its inception, inherently prejudiced. While the United States has gradually become a country that Black Americans can proudly call their home, systemic racism has not magically gone away. The abolition of slavery was a massive triumph in the history of the United States, but since then there has been a pattern of over-policing Black Americans that still continues and affects marginalized communities today.
Systemic racism is rooted in the very cornerstone of this country and it prevails to this day. So when this issue plagues marginalized people so and to the very extreme point where they can be murdered under the confines of the law and their killers allowed to walk free to “uphold justice” another day, why should the film be subtle in its messaging? Rebel Ridge is heavy-handed and on the nose because it is first and foremost trying to call out the corrupt system. The fact that it can do so and tackle such a heavy subject, while simultaneously being such a fun action movie is incredible and the reason I love it so much.
I would have been very happy with Rebel Ridge if it was only this one simple, yet hard-hitting, premise but it also includes a bonafide government conspiracy, a trope of which, I am a huge fan! Halfway through, I was skeptical about how the two plots would work with each other, but Saulnier balances both exceptionally well, never allowing the film’s narrative to feel muddled or bloated.
As well as Rebel Ridge’s narrative drives it, its cast carries the film impeccably as well. John Boyega was originally set to star as the film’s protagonist, and I would have loved to see his take on Terry, but I’ve got to say, Aaron Pierre is phenomenal here. I’d only seen him in Old before, but he really needs more leading-man roles ASAP and I hope this film helps him get them. Don Johnson kills it as the smug Chief Sandy Burns and I loved to hate him here. I wish there was more of David Denman between the film’s opening and climax, he’s a severely underrated character actor who’s a pleasure to watch whenever he’s on screen, even when he’s in less-than-likable roles.
In a lot of ways, Rebel Ridge feels very much like a modernized take on First Blood, the first film in the Rambo franchise. First Blood is about a PTSD-stricken Vietnam War veteran, John Rambo, who is detained and mistreated by a sheriff and his deputies while wandering through a small town in Washington and has no choice but to fight back against his aggressors. First Blood is not really anti-cop, but it is anti-establishment against American society that forced young people to fight in a war they had no reason or need to be in, used them, and threw them back into society. Rebel Ridge takes a similar premise and transports it to the present day with the added factor of systemic racism and police brutality that makes it so topical.
Unlike First Blood however, Rebel Ridge does pull its punches a bit, both figuratively and literally, in that Terry is a nonlethal fighter and doesn’t kill his opponents, unlike Rambo who brutally massacres his enemies. As ambitious and provocative a movie as Rebel Ridge is, it doesn’t go as far as it could have at times, but this isn’t really detrimental to the film in any way. There was nothing that I felt that the movie was lacking in.
Saulnier’s new film is a brilliant two-in-one of action-thriller filmmaking and activist cinema. I would love to see him branch out more like this in the future. On one hand, I’m very happy Netflix allowed Saulnier to make something this personal and ambitious, but on the other, I’m incredibly saddened by their aversion to theatrical releases. An action film like this feels like it’s meant to be seen on the big screen. I am really bummed this didn’t get a theatrical run.
If this long gush of the movie and my reasons for admiring it so much did not convince you to watch Rebel Ridge, consider that at one point Terry gets tased by a cop and pulls out the plugs from his back with his hands and the TASER from the grasps of the officer, absolutely exhilarating action filmmaking at its finest. That final shootout is one of my favorites in recent years. I loved Jeremy Saulnier’s newest project and I sincerely hope it gets the attention and reception it deserves.
Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge is streaming now on Netflix as of September 6th, 2024. The film stars Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Zsané Jhé, David Denman, and Emory Cohen.
Thanks for reading! For more reviews and articles, feel free to check out more of our stuff here at Feature First.
