Other action protagonists are known for their yeahs, others like Terry Richmond are known for their nahs. He's the towering character that Aaron Pierre portrays in Rebel Ridge, which is directed, written and edited by Jeremy Saulnier. This high-strung pressure cooker starts with Terry biking towards the local courthouse in the small town of Shelby Springs, planning to bail out his cousin who's been arrested, carrying around $30,000 in cash before he gets flattened and stopped by police officers Marston (David Denman) and Lann (Emory Cohen) who confiscate the money ''suspecting'' that it's drug money.
Out of options and calmly rebelling against the bureaucratic injustice, Terry starts to show up at the sheriff's office in order to get his money back and clashes with police chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson) and his officers. Helped by court clerk Summer McBride (AnnaSophia Robb) on the down-low, Terry soon finds himself in the middle of a larger corruption scheme committed by the cops and the tensions flare up to a precarious degree.
We're off to a great if not remarkable start with the film's opening scene, which quickly presents you with the emotional ramp-up that we're experiencing as we move from frustration to uneasiness all the way to outrage. Saulnier continues to expertly handle tension as the driving force, evident in his earlier work too, making every single small movement or negotiation tactic seem significant in terms of the outcome, especially if you know nothing about the movie's story beforehand like yours truly. This is just a small indication of what's to come, though, because the first 40 minutes of Rebel Ridge (such a dull title, by the way) is some of the very best stuff that we've seen in 2024 thus far. It's so tense, so well-performed, extremely effective and even fairly relatable for this type of movie—a sign of strong bones in the tale that is being told.
The setup in that story plays with elements we recognise from westerns, which rubs nicely against the modern action thriller outline. It's a lone rebel against the lawmen and there are multiple face-offs with hands on the hip level. It's justice against corruption, it's an uprising against the abuse of power. There are several instances of these dynamics within scenes where the movie gets you to lean forward until cinematographer David Gallego begins to move the camera and you get to an action scene that showcases neat stunt work with hand-to-hand combat, SFX and cars.
Saulnier's script shifts its focus more on the bigger conspiracy after the first act until the final 25- minute stretch brings us back to the personal story, marked by the signature ''nah'' mentioned above (this is when you'd normally pump your fist in the cinema with your fellow audience members). The conspiracy plot isn't bad per se, but it's not edge-of-your-seat material either because it's very conventional and the filmmakers' strengths clearly lie in the less conventional routes and southern backroads that they usually take, like in the conflict between Terry and Burnne.
What makes the action and conflicts so thrilling is Pierre's presence. The actor nails the balance of Terry's physicality, charming looks, politeness and calm line deliveries, and it just so happens to be one of those moments when you see star presence forming in real time in front of you. Pierre may not get a full range to work with in the second half like you'd expect, which is of course disappointing, but it's a compelling action hero performance regardless. Saulnier knows exactly how to deploy that in the blocking, best exemplified in a crucial scene about 30 minutes into the film where Pierre simply walking a couple steps forward has Terry overpowering Burnne in the frame, shifting the power balance between the two. Most of the film features those kinds of modest touches and it's quite impressive directorial work.
But because the compositions, blocking, performances and action photography are so strong, it's absolutely mystifying how poor Gallego's lighting is. Luckily there are a lot of scenes in daylight because almost every scene that takes place inside or at night is rather dreadful to look at. There's no clarity to be found in the faces, set details (production design by John P. Goldsmith and Ryan Warren Smith when you can actually see their work) and notably the eyes, which is also one of the reasons why the second half is less affecting. The biggest offender is a scene featuring James Cromwell's judge character, closely followed by a couple scenes right after that are almost equally incomprehensible. When filmmakers clearly know where to place the camera and how to move it, how is any of this lunacy possible?
As far as action thrillers go, this is still one of the more riveting efforts released this year. You come for the finely conducted tension and skirmishes, and you stay for Pierre's magnetism. Plus, considering the tumultuous production history the film apparently had, we might need to think of it as a minor miracle too.
Smileys: Atmosphere, directing, Aaron Pierre, story
Frowneys: Lighting
Officer Lann was finally too stunned to run his mouth.
4.0/5
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