A man is cycling to post bail for his brother with a matter of urgency. It isn’t long before he’s pulled over by the police on false charges, beaten, and having his bail money stolen. He goes to the local jail the report a crime: but knows he’s getting nowhere when he tells the officer he didn’t get his badge number. It’s a harrowing start to Rebel Ridge, Jeremy Saulnier latest straight-to-Netflix Rambo-esque thriller from the director of Blue Ruin, but if there’s anything that Sauliner is good at it’s escalating the tension. There’s shades of Jack Reacher all over this film – the lone wonderer, buff protagonist, played superbly by breakout Aaron Piere, pitted against small town cops who are working together protecting a get-rich-quick scheme.The set up is fascinatingly simple and it never convolutes itself.
It’s to Rebel Ridge’s credit that the film creates tension like no other. The scene where Pierre’s Terry Richmond is breaking out of a police station with a hostage is executed masterfully to avoid escalation where shoutier, louder directors would’ve fallen prey to. Don Johnson is the perfect foil as the lead cop; embroiled in this scheme, and AnnaSophia Robb takes on the role as a sympathetic helper to Terry. It’s standard character roles played to superb perfection by each actor involved – the small town atmosphere creates a sense of charm that is easy to engage with. It’s incredibly cynical and it’s incredibly restrained, less of a gore-fest than say Green Room but with the right reason not to – it’s a personal challenge for Sauliner to make a film without resorting to murder. There’s no shootout that you’d expect a modern western to have for a final act, lots of talk from de-escalation on both sides runs hard, and if there’s one role that Johnson is very good at, it’s the role of a corrupt Southern official. He plays I a little too well – but opposite him, Pierre puts in a megstar worthy performance that deserved the big screen – he owns every scene he’s in and his character’s intelligence almost makes him the calmest man in the room at all times. He’s introduced to our bad guys when they start to realise they are out of their depth – he has a Wikipedia page, he’s constantly disarming people, trying not to hurt them unless provoked.
It’s interesting to make Terry not the righteous Reacher type from the word go – he wants to get out without a fight. He wants the police to keep the money in exchange for his brother. It’s a compromise that exists at every turn; but Rebel Ridge shows that for some people, compromise can never be enough. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had John Boyega remained in this project but Pierre does the Terry role superbly; his physical presence is worthy of an action franchise although I hope Rebel Ridge remains a standalone. It’s a Rambo for the thinking man, as Stephen King put it – an adrenaline rush that then experiences the comedown perhaps in the middle of the film but it’s something that you can’t help but admire its deliberate need for de-escalation before the escalation even starts. Anything further and the ending would’ve stretched credibility. In Sauliner’s hands, it’s presented with tact and care.
