Any competent filmmaker can deliver a shotgun blast to the face, but a precious few directors have the skills to truly stretch out the tension leading up to that shot. To tighten the screws and ramp up the pressure of a scene and its characters to such a degree that the inevitable becomes both viscerally thrilling and a welcome relief from clenched fists and coiled muscles. Jeremy Saulnier has the goods on that count as evidenced by films like Blue Ruin (2013) and his masterpiece, Green Room (2015), and he’s back with a new movie showing that he hasn’t lost his touch. Rebel Ridge is a beautifully crafted pressure cooker, grounded in simplicity and truth and fueled by palpable rage against injustice and corruption.
“This is fucking surreal,” says Terry (Aaron Pierre) as his sunny morning goes from bad to considerably worse. Riding into a small town on a bike to bail his cousin out of jail, he’s rammed by a police car and soon interrogated by two officers with their weapons drawn. They confiscate his cash under suspicion of a drug connection, tell him to walk away or face charges, and ride off leaving nothing in the air but dust and simmering anger. Terry’s not one to let things go, though, and despite his best efforts to settle it amicably with the town’s police chief (Don Johnson), the situation quickly shifts from the Kafkaesque to the dangerously violent.
If Green Room remains the pinnacle of Saulnier’s mastery over tension and intensity, and Blue Ruin sits comfortably as a masterclass in slow burn suspense, then Rebel Ridge feels like the equally satisfying marriage of both. He gives as much care to his characters as he does his set-pieces, and the result is a rollercoaster of increasingly tense climbs towards conflict, thrilling descents into violence, and an emotional relief when it’s all over.
Pierre is the heart and soul of the film bringing a steady and assured presence as the stranger who rolls into town unaware of what’s coming — but prepared to face it head on if necessary. He’s tall with a piercing stare, and as is fitting of an ex-Marine, he gives Terry a controlled pose even as you know his mind is racing. Shifts into tactical/action mode are quick and believably portrayed giving viewers an action hero whose abilities and intentions are never in doubt.
Johnson meets him beat for beat as the corrupt Chief Burnne whose own intentions, glimpsed first beneath the thinnest layer of Southern civility, are revealed loud and proud with a villainous charisma few actors can match. He’s never over the top and instead plays Burnne every bit as in control as Terry, and their verbal sparring matches are among Rebel Ridge‘s many high points. AnnaSophia Robb stars as a law clerk who’s also fallen victim to the town’s power plays, and she makes for a fun but affecting sidekick. The film isn’t a comedy, but its biggest laugh comes from her thanking a certain veteran for his service.
Rebel Ridge avoids making race or racism part of its text — the cops never utter a single slur, and their corruption and harassment efforts target everyone equally — even if it’s an unavoidable lens for most viewers. Terry is Black while most of the police officers (David Denman and Emory Cohen being the familiar faces among them) are white, but Saulnier’s script knows zeroing in on racial elements is unnecessary and redundant. More than that, though, it would threaten to cloud or dilute the script’s actual, lesser publicized litany of complaints about a system designed to keep everyone but the rich and powerful down and in their place.
Nearly everything that happens to Terry at the hands of the police is technically legal in too many jurisdictions. From the civil forfeiture giving the police the right to confiscate money and goods if labeled suspicious, to the court’s ability to vary sentencing and bail/fines, the system is not designed to help people — especially those unable to pay the price. Saulnier’s equally interested in the shifting role of police in this country as one of the officers says, with a smile on his face, that civil unrest has become “a growth industry” for them.
There’s a lot to digest in Rebel Ridge as Saulnier’s script makes it clear why both Terry and viewers should be angry, but none of it detracts from the film’s genre ambitions. Even at just over two hours, the film cooks as downtime is used to catch your breath before the next build-up and payoff. Pacing never lags even as we relax to take in information about court rights, military acronyms, and police cruiser functionality. Cinematographer David Gallego ensures that, rather than underwhelm visually like most Netflix Original action films, this one actually looks and feels like a real movie. Numerous tracking shots keep the momentum moving without feeling showy, and the score by frequent collaborators Brooke and Will Blair enhances scenes with additional energy and atmosphere.
On paper, Saulnier’s fifth feature could have easily been a fun, throwaway action/thriller starring Jeff Speakman or Jason Statham, but he’s a meticulous craftsman who gives it all just a little bit more attention. He adds weight to the thrills. Narrative details, sure, but it’s the emotional weight carried by our characters and the heavy tension sitting on our own shoulders as the various sequences play out, that raises the bar beyond what Netflix viewers are used to. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait another six years for his next one.
