It’s been five years since work began on writer/director Jeremy Saulnier’s action thriller Rebel Ridge. The movie is finally hitting the 2024 Netflix schedule after being delayed first by COVID and then by the abrupt exit of John Boyega as its star. Aaron Pierre now leads the film, which sees his character Terry Richmond working to uncover a conspiracy in a small town after the money he was going to use to post bail for his cousin is seized. Critics got to review the movie before it became available to stream with a Netflix subscription, so let’s take a look at what they’re saying.
Alongside Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson stars as Shelby Springs Police Chief Sandy Burnne, and AnnaSophia Robb plays Summer McBride, the court clerk who helps Terry with his mission. Rebel Ridge is drawing early praise from critics, including RogerEbert.com’s Brian Tallerico, who gives the movie 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing that it’s thrilling to see Jeremy Saulnier prove that escapist entertainment and serious subject matter can exist in the same movie. He also predicts this isn’t the last we’ll see of Pierre. In Tallerico’s words:
Saulnier’s triple threat of direction, screenwriting, and editing is the greatest asset of Rebel Ridge, but don’t underestimate the degree of difficulty in what Pierre brings here, striking just the right balance of desperation and determination. It takes the former to challenge an entire police force of well-armed idiots; it takes the latter to succeed. Pierre has been memorable before in Brother and The Underground Railroad, but this is the best work to date from an actor I suspect we’ll be seeing for quite some time.
William Bibbiani of The Wrap echoes the above critic, lauding Rebel Ridge for being an “exhilarating” experience that doesn’t ask viewers to turn their brains off. After extracting tension from every crooked action from the small-town police force, the director delivers an “electrifying, pulse-pounding, complex climax that’s wholly, breathtakingly satisfying.” Bibbiani continues:
Rebel Ridge is a masterpiece of conflict and tension, a crime thriller that begins with a tiny act and gradually builds momentum, never taking an obvious path, until it finally reaches a natural, but gigantic conclusion. On its face it’s a standard thriller about corrupt cops and a heroic ex-marine seeking justice. At its core… that’s what it is too. But it’s as excellent and as smart and as meaningful as a movie with those tried-and-true tropes can possibly be.
Daniel Joyaux of IndieWire gives the film a B+, joining several critics in comparing it to a modern-day First Blood. Aaron Pierre is explosively charismatic, Joyaux writes, with Jeremy Saulnier providing an overall entertaining thriller about police corruption. His review goes on to praise Pierre, saying:
Aaron Pierre, who co-starred in Barry Jenkins’ Underground Railroad and the criminally under-seen Canadian film Brother, is magnetic here. John Boyega was originally cast as Terry, but Pierre makes the role so thoroughly his own that it’s difficult to imagine anyone else pulling it off. He commands the screen with a handsome authority, somehow managing to exude both coiled tension and serene cool at the same time.
Mark Kennedy of the AP calls Rebel Ridge “tight, taut and tension-filled,” saying once audiences get sucked into the story, they likely won’t be able to turn the movie off until finding out how Terry holds up against the corrupt Louisiana cops. Kennedy rates this “first-rate drama” 3.5 out of 4 stars and says:
Like its leading man, Rebel Ridge is a lean, muscular movie with few over-the-top special effects, save for Pierre’s spectacular eyes. It’s a triumph of small-budget, naturalistic filmmaking, where cars on a gravel road kick up choking clouds of dust and arm bones crack when pressure is applied. The script is spare — allowing for some homespun poetry like ‘You know the thing about a pissing contest? Everybody gets piss on their boots’ — and without an ounce of fat. So if a bottle of coconut water is brought up in one scene, it’s going be used in another.
A.A. Dowd of IGN rates the movie a “Great” 8 out of 10, calling this Netflix thriller smart and tense with an enormously satisfying finale. Dowd writes:
Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier returns with his most accessible and maybe most entertaining thriller yet, about an out-of-towner (played by the terrifically commanding Aaron Pierre) who gets tripped up by some cops lining their pockets via a civil asset forfeiture operation. The power struggle that follows suggests the 21st-century answer to Sylvester Stallone’s initial outing as John Rambo, First Blood – that is, a down-and-dirty action movie that’s also a pointed political statement about America. Saulnier savages the legal loopholes that allow police to exploit their community, all while offering the year’s most breathlessly suspenseful standoffs. It’s what a modern crowd-pleaser should be: smart, gripping, and about something.
Other critics agree with those above, and Rebel Ridge is already Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 93% (audiences agree, with the Popcornmeter currently standing at 84%). If you’re looking for the best movies to stream on Netflix this weekend, it sounds like this one might be a good option, as it was released September 6. You can also check out our 2024 movie release calendar to see what else is coming up.
