Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

A return to the fold for isolated corruption of small town America and the lone hero fighting to release justice from its shackles.

Netflix’s new action drama was written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier and stars Aaron Pierre, AnnaSophia Robb and Don Johnson. The tense action thriller looks at the US police system through the familiar lens of racism, corruption and abuse of power. Bleak in making us believe the system will never change, there is hope that all it takes is a little team work to turn the tide… or a muscled and mysterious stranger.

Ex-Marine Terry Richmond innocently cycles through Shelby Springs, the type of small town America modern media has taught us to be wary of, when he is pushed over by the police. Through a legal loophole that is part of a larger conspiracy, the $30,000 cash Terry carries to bail his cousin out of jail, is seized. Sent on his way and told not to look back, the Shelby Springs police soon learn they targetted the wrong man.

What stands out about Rebel Ridge, is it wastes no time in getting started. The image above of main character Terry being trailed by a police vehicle occurs in the first moments of the film, and the story snowballs from this point. It’s interesting that we only meet and get to know Terry within the confines of this small town, where he is a mysterious stranger turned thorn in the Shelby Springs police side.

The steady escalating situation between Terry and the police is what drives Rebel Ridge as we watch Terry first try to go down the legal route to his money back, then attempt diplomacy and compromise before.

We very quickly understand the lengths Terry goes to in order to reclaim his money. Bailing his cousin out of jail is a matter of life and death, and as such, the time sensitive nature of Terry’s mission adds a gripping urgency to the movie.

Fighting the good fight alongside Terry is Shelby Springs resident, Summer, who works at the courthouse. Summer is a worthy side character, providing help when Terry needs it, having her own fully formed and unrelated backstory and most importantly, not being an unnecessary romantic distraction.

The pace and the level of maintained suspense is executed well, however, as with a lot of other action films, Rebel Ridge falls into the trap of overcomplicating its plot. There is the simple story that Shelby Springs has been extorting their civil forfeiture rights on targetted individuals and using the money to save their fading town from being erased off the map. It’s a simple motive with an adequate amont of weight behind it.

From this point it spirals. We are bombared with threads of a mole within the police department who isn’t isn’t willing to come forward and expose their colleagues. We have a conspiracy about damning body camera footage involving Terry’s cousin and unknown others, and a lot of technical jargon. The movie drones on about a lot of technical jargon and police process. Keeping police body camera footage for 90days, transfer to back up drives, hard copy SD cards, the importance of police choosing not to activate their sirens so that it doesn’t set off dash cameras.

A lot of this information is explained in heavy exposition or throw away lines that leave you momentarily baffled and pulls you out of the movie. There is something selectively informative about what Rebel Ridge teaches us about the technicalities of police procedure that you can’t help wonder if it’s a free lesson to those who might find use of this information.

Rebel Ridge is scarily effective at displaying the racism of the police, without ever defining their actions as racism. Terry is undeniably a well-built, tall, African-American man, and a lot of the tension in the movie stems from watching his tactfully fight against the police over the 2 hour and 11 minute running time.

There is a moment when Terry and Chief Burnne square up. The Chief has purposefully misled Terry and goes on to look down at him (despite physically having to look up) for his entitlement at not only coming back for his money but attempting to strike a deal with the Chief.

It’s impossible to say how many of us would have the level of restraint Terry manages to hold onto during these interactions with Chief Burnne and his officers. Restraint however, does not equal indifferent, and Terry’s anger over the injustice of the situation ripples constantly in waves across his skin. You can feel him fighting to hold back, and you can see it too in the way he uses his free hand to hold down the one carrying the gun.

Star Wars actor John Boyega was initial attached to the project in 2019, however he left just before filming began for ‘family reasons’.

Talk about a blessing in disguise because John Boyega could never.

It’s not only that he pulled off a better American accent, Aaron Pierre was Ex-Marine Terry Richmond. The character fit him like a glove, and he convincingly executed Terry’s controlled and fearless moments, whilst also allowing us to empathise with Terry during those rare glimpses of vulnerability where his military mask slipped.

The slow and steady nature to Terry that was reflected in the pacing of the Rebel Ridge is one of its principle highlights, as well as the film’s commentary on the subject of self-preservation. There is a point where Terry almost decides that battling against Shelby Springs isn’t worth it and chooses self-preservation. It’s the option we want him to choose because we want him to be safe. It’s the option that all of us would choose for ourselves.

Which is why Terry is a hero and the rest of us are sat watching heroes on screen. Terry reminds us that we need to rethink our view on our innate self-nature, and to do the right thing, even if the right thing isn’t the easy thing.

Rebel Ridge is a refreshing addition to the action genre. It doesn’t over do it on the action sequences, nor does it give us a sad backstory for our leading man. It’s understated, reserved and allows a continuous thrum of tension carry it towards its effectiveness as an action thriller.

The setting of Shelby Springs goes a long way towards its success. The boundary of Shelby Springs is where all Terry’s problems lie and if he’s only able to escape everything will be okay, and despite the fact he can take care of himself, we hold a collective breath held that he’ll make it out alive.