On September 6, the crime thriller/action movie «Rebel Ridge», which has already received universal critical acclaim and even high-profile statements such as «one of the most interesting films of the year» (the rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing was 95% «freshness» according to 55 reviews). In the review below, we will confirm or refute the general opinion of the English-language media regarding the next Netflix release.
Pluses:
the story works well in the declared crime thriller genre; a good acting performance from Aaron Pierre, and others, including Don Johnson, are in their places; in general, the authors manage to keep the tension well;
Minuses:
the overlong narrative spoils the viewing experience a bit; certain plot conventions; some may think that not all the bad guys got what they deserved;
«Rebel Ridge»
Genre crime thriller, action movie
Director Jeremy Saulnier
Starring Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, Anne-Sophia Robb, David Denman, Emory Cohen, James Cromwell, Steve Zissis, Jean Jae, Dena Lee
Premiere Netflix
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb
Metal fan Terry Richmond arrives in the godforsaken town of Shelby Springs to post $10,000 bail for his cousin in trouble. But right in the middle of the road, he is stopped, let’s say, not very politely by police officers who look downright unfriendly. Despite Richmond’s full cooperation, the officers confiscate his bag of money ($36,000) without any good reason and let him walk away.
Perhaps under different circumstances, the situation with this robbery would not have reached the critical point of no return, which would have resulted in a fierce feud between the intruder and the local police. But now, for the guy who suffered from law enforcement, the events are becoming a matter of principle, so he, with the support of almost the only honest person in this hellhole, court clerk Summer McBride, takes the path of war against corrupt cops.
It should be noted right away that, clearly inspired by the cult «First Blood» with Sly, «Rebel Ridge» is far from bloody action movies like «John Wick», where the death toll is in the hundreds.
Terry Richmond does his best to avoid confrontations and use force only when absolutely necessary. And when sophisticated fighting techniques are used, you shouldn’t expect concentrated cruelty here either. The muscular character of Aaron Pierre is more likely to evoke associations with the sensible Jack Reacher from the eponymous TV series than with the uncontrollable killing machine John Rambo.
Accordingly, the filmmakers rely not on the action, which is deliberately minimized, but on the integrity and tension of the situation, which only grows stronger as the story progresses. Therefore, the viewer is not presented with a dynamic action movie, but with a one hundred percent crime thriller. And a pretty good one at that.
At the initial stages of production, the main role was to be played by John Boyega, who was familiar to the mass audience thanks to his participation in the sequel trilogy «Star Wars». But right during the filming, the actor dropped out of the project, citing «family circumstances», and he urgently had to look for a replacement. Now, after watching it, we can say for sure that the choice of Englishman Aaron Pierre looks surprisingly successful: he coped well with his role and confidently transformed into a balanced man with steel muscles and a cold mind.
Director and screenwriter Jeremy Saulnier maximizes the tension with a well-crafted narrative that holds your attention well and literally keeps you waiting for the outcome. And the theme of blatant police brutality runs like a thin red thread through the entire plot, and as a result, our sense of justice is urgently called for here.
But even in the climax, when Terry Richmond is forced to take up arms and we are already in anticipation of inevitable karma, Saulnier tries to adhere to conditional realism, refusing to superheroism on the part of the protagonist. So, once again, if someone expects the local fighter to stack enemies one by one, it’s better to turn on some other movie.
And the fighter, in turn, will resemble Schwarzenegger during a principled confrontation Terminator from «Judgment Day», but not in terms of invulnerability, but in the context of behavior. As if keeping in mind the instruction not to kill police officers, he refuses to commit massacres and does not spare tear gas grenades, including those fired from a grenade launcher.
But before the final battle unfolds on the screen, there is a persistent feeling that this moment was somewhat delayed. As they say, «overheated» the viewer. Then it becomes completely irrelevant what corrupt things those crooked cops were doing and whether the long-suffering heroes will eventually succeed in exposing them.
But overall, it’s a solid enough crime thriller that deserves the audience’s attention. Thanks to films like this, faith in Netflix is partially restored, as it turns out that the streaming giant is still capable of producing something more worthwhile than dubious one-dayers with scripts from a neural network.
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