Rebel Ridge

The trailer for this makes the film seem like it's going to be an all out action film from start to finish. Instead what you get is a thriller with a little bit of action thrown in. What starts with a man trying to post bail for his cousin, turns into a discovery of corruption in a small town. At no point did it seem like a two hour film, which is testament to how well the pace was kept, slowly revealing more and more details of what's been going on in the town. It would have also been very easy for the writers to just say the lead was ex-special forces, delta force etc. But they change this up from the norm to make it feel slightly different.

Is this something we've never seen before? No. Are there better action/thrillers out there? Yes. But that doesn't mean it's not worth spending two hours of your time watching it. A solid film.

Let me start with saying the film is good. It is well acted, well written, and decently paced. There's an argument to be made that the film could have been a handful of minutes shorter but without careful consideration and time I'm unwilling to give I'm unsure what would be cut.

My only gripe, because im a film sadist, is I wanted a bit more carnage. The film attempts to emulate others (like our beloved wick films or reacher), but it fails to reach the same level of hollywood violence we've come to expect from the genre.

Many may argue this is a good thing but it didn't tickle the part of my brain that I wanted it to. Terry, our protagonist is wronged so repeatedly during the course of this film that it would have made the Pope himself command genocide on the masses, yet we're made to believe that Terry is so honorable he couldn't be bothered to hurt another soul.

My only gripe with what was otherwise a great film.

Godspeed.

I saw this by chance on Netflix and I was pleasantly surprised. The main character is calm, keeps his head down and only retaliate when it is required. Even though he is mistreated by the law enforcement of a particular small town, he always looks for way to "de-escalate" the situation. There's not much violence or action you might expect, but the story build up very nice. You can feel the suffocation when the system has it out for you. The laws drafted to protect the civilians might be used to push them into a corner. That helplessness weighs you down more than you think.

This is a very decent movie and I would recommend to all.

Yes, this is along the lines of First Blood, but this is a step up. Aaron Pierre is very impressive as the calm hero and Don Johnson just seems to get better the older he gets. So who cares whether the story is original or not when it is one of the most realistic representations of the genre you will ever see. The fights are messy, the violence is limited, but that just makes it all the more real. When there is so little quality being produced either by streaming platforms, TV companies or the big Hollywood studios since COVID it is refreshing to see they can still produce the goods. So enjoy the ride.

Starts strong, likeable main character and a good villain.

The plot is a bit convoluted and you could cut out 30 minutes without losing anything important.

The biggest downside for me is the ending, it seems like they did not know how to end it and just throw in some stuff to wrap it up during the supposed climax. It lacks the impact that it needed to deliver satisfaction for the viewer. I can't explain more without spoiling it but it's underwhelming.

On a positive note the main character is likeable, if a bit one note, and the main villain does a god job of making you hate him.

The action scenes are okay, nothing amazing but watchable.

To summarise, I would not recommend this over many others that came before and did it better, but if you have 2 hours to kill and have watched the many other films with the same premise and want to watch another one, give it a go, it's on the bottom of the genre but it's passable.