150 Word Reviews: 'Rebel Ridge' (2024)

Finally, a badass who loves acronyms

Photo: Netflix

I love action movies—my favorite genre after musicals. Director Jeremy Saulnier's Rebel Ridge is a surprisingly subversive one-man-army thriller starring Aaron Pierre as a nice guy pushed too far.

Rebel Ridge isn't a remake, but it is in conversation with Sylvester Stallone's underrated 1982 drama First Blood, about a quiet, long-haired Vietnam vet harrassed by local cops who realize, too late, he's a trained killing machine. Unfortunately, that character, Rambo, would be transformed into a right-wing fantasy.

Aaron Pierre is vulnerable and jacked as a former Marine beaten and robbed by a corrupt police force run by Don Johnson, who is in top shape as a piece of shit sheriff. There are plenty of tense action sequences without a gratuitous body count; Pierre's character is an expert in non-lethal mayhem. Rebel Ridge is also sharply political, a critique of police corruption while acknowledging there are a few good cops.

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Same Director, Great Flick: ‘Green Room’ (2015)

Photo: A24

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