“Rebel Ridge” is the new Netflix action film written, directed, and produced by Jeremy Saulnier starring Aaron Pierre as a former Marine named Terry Richmond.
Some may consider this Aaron’s breakout role but his remarkable filmography includes, “The Underground Railroad,” “Genius: MLK /X,” “Brother,” and his upcoming role in the Emmy award-winning series, “The Morning Show.” Pierre is also the voice of Mufasa in “Mufasa: Lion King” directed by Barry Jenkins and released on December 20.
The first scene of “Rebel Ridge” introduces the audience to the film’s premise. Terry Richmond (Pierre) is en route to the courthouse to bail his cousin Mike (actor C.J. LeBlanc) out of jail. While on his bike, two cops run Terry off the road, search his backpack, and seize a total of $36K.
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$10,000 was for his cousin’s bail and $26,000 Terry earned from working in a Chinese restaurant that he was planning to use to buy a truck. Despite having proof that the cash is rightfully his, the officers use “civil asset forfeiture” as grounds to take Terry’s money.
Director Jeremy Saulnier has said that “civil asset forfeiture” a legal but often exploited law that allows officers to take property they suspect was acquired through illegal means was the inspiration for the film which allows “Rebel Ridge,” though fictitious, to be rooted in reality. In the movie, the officers use weapons and money that they’ve seized to fund the city’s operating budget including city improvements as well as kickbacks for themselves and judges who look the other way.
At the courthouse, a law student and clerk named Summer (actress AnnaSophia Robb) befriends Terry and explains to him that the city’s court system has a history of felonious activity. She plans to go through case files and compile evidence to support her suspicion that Terry’s cousin Mike is among the mishandled cases.
Terry then tries to negotiate the partial return of his money with the city’s police Chief Sandy Burnne (actor Don Johnson) an agreement that the corrupt officer reneges on resulting in Terry using his jiu-jitsu training to hold the Chief and his deputies hostage so that he can retrieve his $10K.
Terry finally pays Mike’s bail but then he’s arrested for the hostage incident. Instead of being taken to jail, Chief Burnne informs Terry that Mike was assaulted in jail and has succumbed to his injuries. Seeming to have some remorse for a situation he exacerbated by not allowing Mike to be released a week prior, Chief Burnne tries to make amends by returning Terry’s money with the caveat that he must leave town immediately.
Terry agrees but before he can ride off into the sunset, he receives a call from Summer that someone has broken into her home and attempted to forcefully overdose her. Aiding Summer meant that Terry was still in town beyond their agreement so Chief Burnne’s officers set Terry up to be shot. Though wounded, he’s able to get away.
Terry meets up with Summer and the pair get intel from one of the few non-corrupt officers as well as a judge on the reasoning behind Chief Burnne not wanting Mike to make bail–many of the officer’s body cam footage includes incidents of misconduct and it’s in the officer’s best interest to suppress the footage by holding people in custody for at least 90 days to avoid the probability of a lawsuit as Chief Burnne is one lawsuit away from losing his jurisdiction.
With this in mind, Terry and Summer head down to the police catacombs to try and retrieve SD cards of bodycam footage. Summer is subsequently kidnapped and there’s an epic showdown between Terry and Chief Burnne where Terry uses his tactical training to single-handedly take down at least a dozen officers in addition to being able to drive Summer and a wounded officer to the emergency room. The film ends with Terry recovering coveted dashcam footage of Chief Burnne’s misconduct.
“Rebel Ridge” is a nearly perfectly executed film. However, the drawbacks are in Terry Richmond’s lack of character development. The audience receives more backstory about Summer being a young mother, a law student, and a divorcee with a history of substance abuse who gets her grand theft record sealed by working at the courthouse. With Terry, however, outside of knowing he’s a former Marine and Mike’s cousin, there’s no mention of any other immediate family. The only calls Terry makes are to his former employer, the owner of the Chinese restaurant.
When Mike passes, Terry doesn’t notify anyone in their family. Additionally, Terry comes into town on a bike with $36,000 in his backpack. It’s a wonder why he opted to camp out in the woods as opposed to renting a car and staying in a motel. Terry is overly mysterious which is fine for his opps but unfortunate, for the audience.
Overall the premise, the pacing, and the acting in “Rebel Ridge” is superb. At the youthful age of 30, Aaron Pierre is still at the onset of a bustling career, and “Rebel Ridge” further solidifies his indelible place in Hollywood.
