Rebel Ridge

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.

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.

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.

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.

There's a lot more good than bad to this film. Yes its a well trodden path, but what isn't these days. This looks on paper as a capitalisation of the popularity of the Reacher series as a low budget movie with zero hints of John Rambo.

I hate the modern trope of rebooting licences with socially agreeable casting. And this doesn't honestly play like that. Aaron Pierre, i've not heard of prior, but he's done a good job of the given script. He'll do well from this i hope. Don, bless him, loves these roles. Brawl in cell block 99 was a bloody hoot. But we all want to see another Nash Bridges or age appropriate Miami Vice!!

Verdict. Watch it. If you do, they'll make more of the same. There's no budget for CGI, no superheroes, but the entire cast play out this hardcore version of saturday night 80s tv really well. Time not wasted.