Title – Rebel Ridge (2024)

Director – Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room) 

Cast – Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, David Denman, Emory Cohen

Plot – Softly spoken Terry Richmond’s (Pierre) run-in with some small town police officers who report to Chief Sandy Burnne (Johnson) sets in motion a series of escalating events that leads all parties towards an fiery outcome.  

“Their laws. His rules”

Review by Eddie on 09/09/2024

Continuing on his work in the thriller space that started with the slow-burn hit Blue Ruin in 2013 and reached a peak with the intense and visceral Green Room in 2015, director Jeremy Saulnier reteams once more with Netflix to deliver Rebel Ridge, a notable improvement on their last collaboration Hold the Dark in 2018.

An at one time John Boyega starring affair that in its reworking found rising star Aaron Pierre as its new leading man, Ridge may be founded around familiar set-ups and characters but there’s enough subverting of expectations and originality on display here to ensure Saulnier’s film is an above average genre entry that at the same marks itself down as a far better than usual Netflix original, featuring the best use of Pierre’s talents we’ve seen yet in a cinematic offering. 

Wasting absolutely zero time in thrusting us and Pierre’s mysterious Terry Richmond into a white knuckle and unrelenting battle between him and a local small town police force who appear to be anything but squeaky clean, early on you get suspicions that you know exactly how things are going to pan out across the next two hours but thankfully Saulnier has more than a few surprises up his sleeve to ensure his latest high-profile streaming release maintains interest levels throughout. 

Loaded with a stacked ensemble that includes Don Johnson’s slippery police chief Sandy Burnne, AnnaSophia Robb’s kindly lawyer to be Summer McBride and Emory Cohen’s detestable officer Steve Lann, there’s a lot of quality front and centre throughout Ridge’s journey and while not every component gels perfectly and there are a few too many plot conveniences, their not enough to stop the momentum and wins Ridge has when it comes to providing solidly tuned thrills. 

Without heading into downright spoiler territory, one of the biggest thrills to be found from this polished and undeniably slight ride is that it never descends into a chaotic bloodbath or operatic bullet strewn ballet and why Saulnier has in the past proven to be a director at home with gut-churning violence (Green Room’s machete attack lingers long in the memory), he presents himself here with a lot more refinement and restraint, showcasing a filmmaker growing with his craft and working towards a genre classic I’m sure lays within his reach. 

Final Say – 

Doing a nice job of undertaking familiar set-ups with a fresh spin and doing so with a notable polish behind the camera and in front of it, Rebel Ridge is a refreshingly fun Netflix original that should act as a notable calling card to Aaron Pierre’s leading man potential. 

3 1/2 grazed elbows out of 5