- “Rebel Ridge” is Jeremy’s latest film’Saulnier, creator of the acclaimed, ultra-violent thrillers “Blue Ruin” and “Hall of Fear”.
- Work on the film began in 2019. Filming was first halted in April 2020 for obvious reasons. It resumed in May 2021. It was halted again two months later when John Boyega dropped out of the lead role.
- He was replaced by Aaron Pierre, known for his work in the series “Krypton”. Filming resumed in April 2022.
Saulnier doesn’t waste time on unnecessary introductions and throws us right into the action. Terry (Aaron Pierre) is hit by a police car. Although it is not his fault, the officer who stops him is just waiting for an excuse to give him a bigger ticket or take him to jail for a few nights. Terry calmly ignores further provocations. Everything changes when the policeman finds a large sum of money on him, which he intends to confiscate. Ten thousand dollars are needed to pay bail. If Terry does not do it soon, his cousin will go to prison – and there he was sentenced. The police, and in particular Sandy (Don Johnson), opts for the unlucky cyclist to leave their town. He has no intention of doing so unless he gets his money back.
The starting point is similar to the opening of “Rambo: First Blood”. However, that’s where the similarities end. Created by Sylvester Stallone’and the warrior was a traumatized Vietnam veteran, a ticking bomb whose short fuse was carelessly lit by the Hope police. Once he started fighting, he couldn’t stop. Terry, who also has a military past, is as unmoved as a stone. He always analyzes coolly and chooses the solution that will bring him closest to achieving his goal. He chooses his words and means of action precisely.
However, he is not the immortal hero of the eighties action movies, which Arnold Schwarzenegger once created. “Rebel Ridge” is kept in a serious tone, so we will not see a protagonist who cracks dry jokes while beating up his enemies. Terry, despite his stoicism and logical approach to the problem, is not devoid of emotions and when he lets them speak, it makes a huge impression. After all – he suffers, bleeds, doubts. A nice change in the times of increasingly irritating retromania and subsequent Terminators with a code for immortality.
The character’s restraint is also passed on to the director. Let’s be honest, Saulnier’s earlier films, especially “Blue Ruin” and “Sala Terror”, accustomed viewers to a high concentration of brutality – the kind that tests the strength of the stomach. Meanwhile, in “Rebel Ridge” he plays with building tension. He raises our expectations, sometimes to deflate them with an action scene (but not one that amounts to an eruption of violence), and sometimes to deflate the balloon with a plot twist. This does not mean that the film lacks memorable action scenes. It is clear that they were thought out, planned and skillfully executed. This applies especially to the final fight.
Saulnier is primarily interested in the intrigue in which Terry accidentally gets entangled and the actions of the protagonist. He does not delve into in-depth psychology, nor does he weave in an unnecessary love story. Between the protagonist and the court employee who supports him, Summer (AnnaSophia Robb) there is a clear thread of understanding, but there is not even a single suggestion that their acquaintance could turn into something more. This is not a flaw at all. The director allows himself to include social themes, primarily to play with the audience’s expectations. When at the beginning of the film the black hero comes into conflict with the local police, the associations are rather obvious.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a film so focused on its plot and limiting unnecessary attractions. The film is followed by the great Pierre, whose character is a humanized version of Alan Ritchson’s Reacher, who has much more charisma than the character in the series adaptation of Lee Child’s books (especially his version from the second season). Are we witnessing the birth of a new icon of action cinema? Perhaps. Saulnier proves, in the meantime, that his cinema was not just a high-class gorefest. And let’s hope we don’t have to wait so long for his next film.
8/10
“Rebel Ridge”dir. Jeremy SaulnierUSA 2024, distribution: Netflix, streaming premiere: September 6, 2024