John Oliver started this. My made up story is this: Jeremy Saulnier, the writer director of Rebel Ridge, was in the middle of the Green Room press junket, and exhausted. A big Game of Thrones fan, he excitedly watched the latest episode, and just left the TV on. Too jacked up to sleep, he kept HBO on into Last Week Tonight for a chuckle before bed. But instead, he locked into the main story that week, and Rebel Ridge was born.
The main story that week was civil asset forfeiture, a technique used by police to help stop drug cartels. But for poor Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre), that means Shelby Springs police Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson) has a built in incentive to essentially take anything of value on people his squad finds on a search. In this case, Richmond’s bail money for his friend. This leads Terry into the belly of the small town beast, learning just how much of a hornet’s nest he and the innocent nice law intern Summer McBride (Anna Sophia Robb) kick up when he insists on getting his money back.
For those of you expecting Green Room’s version of Rambo or Walking Tall, you’re gonna be surprised. While there is blood and violence in Rebel Ridge, the movie is MUCH smarter than that. This might be the first revenge film I’ve seen where everyone involved understands that there are consequences to their actions. And more importantly, that the law can be used as a nonviolent weapon in multiple ways. The movie is more of a tactical heady cat and mouse for how each side can use the law to their advantage. So the obviously corrupt Chief Burnne instantly comes off better than a normal action movie villain, really thinking at least a few steps ahead on the chess board. But instead of Terry just murdering everyone in the town, he weaponizes Summer’s brain, to dig into the details for how to prove that the murkily legal corruption Burnne is doing now is actually diabolical racketeering, to bring him to justice without hurting the scared citizens. Before making a decision, we get shockingly detailed discussions, walking us through why certain actions are smart vs. not smart. And when the “fun stuff” starts going down? It’s also interestingly calculated, as some characters are hurting but not killing so they don’t lose the war in the battle. In the sea of superstar action movies on Netflix, Rebel Ridge stands tallest because it actually dares to think through its story, instead of bypassing it with a shiny, empty explosion.
We’re still in a “mysterious guy enters corrupt small town” movie, so our leads really have to deliver to keep the tension high. So who better to cast as the police chief than Don Johnson? Johnson’s done the good guy side on TV for years, and uses that knowledge to play the other side equally well. Even trickier, we know instantly he’s not a beacon of hope, and yet he still finds enough in there to make you not outwardly hate him. The completely underutilized Anna Sophia Robb gets a chance to prove why she’s aged gracefully into adulthood, finding her voice on an old “woman caught in the crossfire” trope in these films. The big reason Rebel Ridge works though is Aaron Pierre. What a starmaking turn! He’s every bit as compelling as Rambo, or a Toshiro Mifune character in a Kurosawa samurai movie. He uses those piercing eyes to great effect, letting him talk less and still convey whatever emotion the movie needs him to have as he goes deeper into the springs of Shelby. When he speaks, that booming voice backs up his imposing presence and keeps the movie exciting without having to use violence unnecessarily…which Pierre also executes well when the movie needs him to throw fists. Here’s hoping we see more of him in the future, saving all the small towns trapped in fear.
Thank you Rebel Ridge. You reminded me why Netflix is the most interesting of the streaming services. But more importantly, as a big city resident, you’ve given me one more rebuttal to all the friends who moved away asking me if I could live in a small town. Have fun with your Don Johnson’s and Brian Dennehy’s y’all, I’m content living in my “war zone.”