Rebel Ridge

Rebel Ridge opens with its muscular protagonist, played by Terry Richmond, cycling through an ostensibly peaceful Louisiana landscape with Iron Maiden’s “The Number of The Beast” blasting his eardrums. Seconds later, he is knocked off his bike by police who then violently detain him, threaten him and seize his big wad of money under feeble suspicions (ones that we easily unveil, fully aware that we’re watching legalised theft). To add another snag down the line, we learn Aaron Pierre (Richmond) is in a race against time and needs this money to bail out a cousin in life-threatening danger.

Aaron Pierre, victim to the law’s unlawfulness, proceeds with an impossible reserve and collected cool, even addressing his oppressors as “sir” in a relaxed but commanding baritone voice — it’s only until 35 minutes in that we understand why. Pierre is a former marine and martial arts enthusiast who’s been trained as a killing machine (his motto is “One Mind Any Weapon”). In other words, Pierre is a badass. There’s nothing that screams “badass” more than the constant mag-dumping of weapons he effortlessly disarms from unsuspecting officers. As the police learn who it is they’re dealing with, Saulnier flips the (very hooking) procedural first half hour and infuses the following with some incredibly muscular filmmaking.

The opening sequence thrusts into motion a battle between a single man and a small town’s police force; one that sees our sonorous 6’3 action hero (Mid-Sized Sedan) square off with a grey-haired, spitting, Alabamian Don Johnson, as the chief of corruption. A role that fits him well and one that has gestated from his cameo-esque appearance as the old racist dude in Django Unchained (funnily named “Big Daddy”), followed with similar characters in Dragged Across Concrete and Watchmen. Hand Johnson a role as a racist police officer, and the chances are he’s gonna take it.

Terry Richmond is at his absolute best here, in maybe his most star-calibre form, which is simultaneously buoying and disappointing with the realisation that his performance will never be projected on the tallest of cinema screens to be fully appreciated. As much as Rebel Ridge is a vehicle to showcase Saulnier’s directorial prowess, it also serves as an (armoured) vehicle to demonstrate how ideal Richmond is as an action star. His calculated restraint — both in the physical confrontations and in his attempts to de-escalate racially charged interactions — imbues him with a realism that’s rare in revenge-driven narratives. Hearing of John Boyega’s exiting from the film, practically mid-shoot, was disheartening but seeing Richmond in full form is enough to stow away any concerns about other actors because none could have filled the position better.

It’s simple and mean, though not exactly lean. Rebel Ridge begins at a truly great pace, and it’s a fairly nuts-and-bolts thriller. Having said that, the film admirably stirs some social commentary about a very real and immediate feeling of police corruption into the pot. The film goes down the familiar route of a man with a “very special set of skills” belonging to him, facing off against an unjust system (it’s all quite Rambo First Blood coded). It’s the very dependable direction and robust script that elevate it beyond a mere genre exercise. When it’s operating within these simple, confined boundaries the film feels refreshing and very firm in its grasp on the audience. It slowly escalates until reaching an almost vertical slope, in typical Saulnier fashion. However, towards the latter stages, Rebel Ridge begins to unravel slightly, overextending itself to incorporate conspiracy thriller spaces that only act as dumbbells, weighing the organic flow down, which was so well established prior.

With Saulnier’s Blue Ruin and Green Room, Rebel Ridge is the first lengthy exposure (standing at over 2 hours) for the director and it consequentially lacks that same tautness of his previous works. This is something particularly noteworthy when looking at films that have gone straight to Netflix without a theatrical release. Often (painfully so), you’ll find projects that don’t feel like the best versions of themselves, even if they’re of a high standard. It seems with a film set to steaming, there’s no true external force that applies enough pressure on directors to critically evaluate their work to the point of cutting a good 30-40 minutes of it. Watching this film, you’d get the feeling it wouldn’t have been okayed for cinemas without a few run-throughs with editors. Luckily by the time the film gets in its own way, we are already connected to the central conflict for it to become too divisive or switch people off.

The back half doesn’t feel as restrained or emblematic of the protagonist as we’d expect. What it lacks in that respect, it mostly makes up for in thrills and an ending that sticks the landing. Saulnier never takes it into full-blown Rambo carnage but he succeeds in providing action that feels more mature, letting anticipation take the lead and investment to work its magic; an impressive feat considering he doesn’t sacrifice much viscerally. Again this works because it’s not overly ambitious and Saulneir knows that he wants his film to be more sincere. Each exchange and glare packs the aggression to keep you going and the film feels more violent than it actually is, solely due to the fact there’s a lingering feeling of hostility omnipresent in each scene. Guns could go a-blazing at any time, it’s just a matter of when. Saulnier deftly allows the film to build and build on its tension until we’re begging for (even expecting) that cathartic release of unabashed violence. What starts with the characters taking fuel away from the fire ends with them becoming the fire and audiences getting what they hoped to see. Rebel Ridge definitely marks a return to form for Saulnier, one that won’t let you down after a 6 year wait for him to return to feature-length filmmaking.