Rebel Ridge is one of the best movies Netflix has ever released: a smart, teeth-gnawingly tense, and cathartic actioner that feels like the 21st century’s answer to First Blood. Did I put too much sauce on that? “Nah.”
Jeremy Saulnier never f**ks around. Blue Ruin is an uncomfortably taut, ruthless parable about the desolation of revenge; violence begets violence, and trauma can’t be scrubbed clean with more blood. Green Room, his jaw-dropping follow-up, blurred the lines between survival and malice (plus it starred Patrick Stewart as a neo-Nazi).
Rebel Ridge feels more like an inverse of his debut: vengeance would be reasonable, but this guy isn’t interested. He’s an ex-Marine (specifically a pioneer of its Martial Arts Program), but whooping ass is a tool that demands just cause, not a d*ck to swing wherever he walks. “Non-lethal escalation of force.”
Remember, Rambo didn’t want to hurt anyone (before he started gutting guerillas’ intestines like chipolatas). He entered Hope, a town that betrayed its namesake. It’s been over 40 years, and Rebel Ridge is the first film to carry the spirit of one of the best action movies ever made into the modern day.
Rambo meets Reacher in Rebel Ridge
The new movie, available to watch on Netflix now, has one of the greatest set-ups in movies: small-town scum accidentally spark the capable temper of someone with a ‘particular set of skills’ (The Equalizer, Harry Brown, Death Wish… the list goes on).
This time, our hero is Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre, who played Mid-Sized Sedan (!) in Old). He’s sold his truck, he’s cashed out his stake in a restaurant, all for one goal: bailing his cousin out of jail.
As he cycles into Shelby Springs, he’s rammed off the road by local police. At first, it seems like a standard case of racial profiling, but there’s another angle: they ‘legally’ seize the bond money, and they refuse to give it back. Terry tries to report their theft as a crime, enraging the town’s chief (Don Johnson).
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He’s left with one option: “I gotta haunt these motherf**kers myself.”
Pierre is a revelation. It’s a star-is-born performance; hulking, intimidating, but coolly charismatic, like Reacher but even more courteous. The supporting cast is terrific; Johnson is the perfect sh*t-eating villain, and AnnaSophia Robb is a likable, quietly tragic aide.
Saulnier’s economy of storytelling is one of his greatest strengths. There’s no fat on this, no meandering plot lines – it’s a pistol whip, only breaking its trajectory to contextualize the cops’ corruption (which is depressingly, incisively explained).
You’ll struggle to find another movie on Netflix as cleanly and tightly directed as this; tracking shots are subtly employed rather than boastfully forced, the action crunches with realism but revels in Pierre’s movie star physicality, each back-and-forth is carefully framed for maximum tension and emotion. And it looks amazing, breaking through the streamer’s homogenous palette with crisp, striking visuals.
Two things can be true: this is 2024’s ultimate dad movie, primed to be recommended in texts with a requisite thumbs up. But it’s also a bracingly intelligent, edge-of-your-seat thriller from one of our most fascinating directors; a true must-see.
Rebel Ridge is on Netflix now, and you can also check out our list of new movies and TV shows streaming this month.
