Behind-the-scenes drama and Covid have wreaked havoc on Jeremy Saulnier’s effective and long-delayed thriller. The American auteur’s fifth feature arrives four years and two shutdowns after the cameras started rolling. Fans of the film-maker’s Blue Ruin and Green Room will find plenty to love in this robust revenge action movie.
In a nail-biting prologue, former marine Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre, from The Underground Railroad) cycles into a small southern-US town with a bag full of cash, acquired to bail his weed-smoking cousin out of jail. Peddling furiously, he’s accosted and assaulted by two local policemen who confiscate the money under civil asset-forfeiture law.
The obstacles quickly mount: his cousin is an informant who will be transferred to a facility where he will be most unwelcome. The local police chief (Don Johnson, revisiting the villainous vibes of his Django Unchained turn) is as crooked as the men under his command. Terry finds an ally in Summer (AnnaSophia Robb), a courthouse employee, but there’s more to the incident than a cash grab.
Surely no film-maker has done more to deter American road trips than Saulnier. The feuding rednecks and neo-Nazi skinheads who menaced the director’s earlier films are here swapped for an unholy nexus of racial profiling and systemic corruption. Real-world news headlines concerning dashcam footage and conflicting police reporting are lightly evoked in a script pitched somewhere between Rambo: First Blood and Cop Land. There’s some fun, too, with police radio codes.
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Pierre, who replaced John Boyega after the latter’s controversial departure, is a convincing and charismatic action hero. The supporting cast, particularly Robb, Emory Cohen, and Johnson, make for good company. The film’s cinematographer, David Gallego, does some nifty footwork around a thrilling Mexican standoff. Worth the wait.
Rebel Ridge is on limited release and on Netflix from Friday, September 6th
