Rebel Ridge
Writer and director Jeremy Saulnier doesn’t waste any time at all in getting right into the thick of things with his very good new thriller, “Rebel Ridge.” One is reminded that the man who brought us “Blue Ruin” and “Green Room” is among the best when it comes to making films that deal with a hot conflict of sacred good and evil. Within a few minutes of the film beginning, cop color makes its unwelcome presence felt when private Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre, future superstar if Service gave out Oscars to people with bright futures) gets his bicycle knocked off by a police vehicle. The small problem with the interaction that follows is that Terry is getting his cousin out of jail, and is carrying a huge sum of 150,000 dollars for the bail, creating an opportunity for a robbery. increasing the cash flow of a small town’s corrupt operations headed by a sleazy Chief Sandy Burnne (a terrific Don Johnson). As played by David Denman and Emory Cohen, the perverted off-siders from the sticks on the sherriff’s side looked like they were simply lifting something from a boy they felt would never put up a struggle. Little do they know about Terry.
The narrative of “Rebel Ridge” also widens to include a courthouse clerk (AnnaSophia Robb), who wants to assist Terry. Even Steve Zissis and James Cromwell had small roles. But almost everything you need to know is contained in that first scene, which is a pretty exciting way to start a thriller. It is actually a prologue that David Gallego shot quite well, and that Saulnier cut to a beat. It’s a prologue that literally wakes the audience up with its nerve wracking relatability and effortless gore. How many times have these cops used this trick? And anyway, how could Terry possibly propose to get his money back to save his cousin from what could well be a death sentence due to the harm he suffers in prison? Once again, Saulnier deals with a model of good vs evil (the same punk rockers Nazis of “Green Room”) but he gives it a stylisation that combines elements of characters from 1980s action movies and classic westerns. Terry is in the role of the three dimensional cowboy who rides into the wrong town.
In Terry’s defense, he tries to use the law to his aid. He goes to the courthouse and even the police station to file a report about his money being stolen, yes, by the police. Unsurprisingly, this does not work out, leading up to a fantastic shoot in which Burnne, the Chief, is left to wonder if he has really underestimated this particular partisan. (It also features what may be the best utilization of Wikipedia in a thriller so far, when an officer, [Zsane Jhe], moments too late attempts to understand who her superior had been working with). Saulnier does not shy away from raising the stakes in every scene and every act which eventually reaches satisfying shoot ‘em up action that shows how genre editing is done in contrast to most blockbuster movie makers. The action staged in “Rebel Ridge” is incredibly well orchestrated with a strong sense of geography maintaining the focus on how private places like a saloon or rooftops above a dusty street in a Western utilize the setting to immerse viewers in heated scenes. Nick’s a lot of things, but a Rambo (no matter how many times “First Blood” will be brought up, this is one of things cool people will not allow) is not one of them. However, Pierre’s performance as Terry is in such a no-nonsense way. He was trained to plan a mission and then go execute it without caring about any roadblocks in completing the plan.
Although “Rebel Ridge” is about many issues, alas it includes some of the most mundane Southern racism boneheads have ever met. But its most fascinating not stated but somehow present theme is a critique of a modern system of law enforcement which is said to have managed to get rid of corruption whereas in actuality, it has merely shifted it to new ways. It is about how a system itself can be employed more cruelly than a gun, be it the nauseatingly corrupt system of asset forfeiture or the exploitation of the fragile state of a single mother. There are a line here and a movement there to acknowledge the recent practice of de escalation, but “Rebel Ridge” argues that those techniques are only said to be de-emphasized the reached gets more rotten underground escalated techniques.
It is all shot through with jet black comedy almost every one of Saulnier’s feature films has it as a signature element of this movie that keeps the viewer going through the lengthy film very well executed, it can be said. With that said, the first hour of Saulnier’s “Rebel Ridge” is among the best hours filmed in this year, still the midsection became a bit soft. By that moment, the narrativesks had been over-promoted, so saulnier and Pierre had enough credits to make it up for the plunge.
The ability to write a clever fascinating script and direct it well on-site, and also be the one who assembles all pieces of a film into one including SAULNIER’S editing style, or the ‘triple threat’ as called in the review, is what makes Rebel Ridge David’s always worth watching. However, also from the review created throughout the informative critique with or without aikido style, David’s work seems hopeless and completely desperate and once again referring to the language of MIKE TYSON in the documentary produced by Andrew Norkin it sounds more meager than I would hope for. Pierre has impressed and called attention to himself in the past in Brother or The Underground Railroad, but here we see him at his best and this, I believe, is only the beginning.
That said, “Rebel Ridge” is what will have viewers jumping and cheering in their seats because it is a genre movie made with such style, while also leaving us with that feeling of grey melancholy that can’t be shaken off and is always welcome as we’re just entering the season surrounded by occasional good curious beasts and their respective movies with intricate plots. It’s good to know that there are filmmakers out there like Jeremi Saulnier, who can balance how to build a story and never lose sight of what the audiences want to see.
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