Film Review: Aaron Pierre is a force to be reckoned with in ‘Rebel Ridge’

A man rides his bike down a quiet, rural street, Iron Maiden blasting in his headphones. The music is loud. Like, obscenely loud. So loud, the man doesn’t notice the cop car behind him attempting to pull him over.

The cop clips the man on the bike with his car, unceremoniously knocking him to the ground. The cop and his partner cuff and begin to interrogate the man – Where is he going? Did he steal this bike? Has he ever sold drugs? The questions continue, and eventually the cops find $30,000 in cash in the man’s backpack. The man says he is on his way to bail his cousin out of jail and then buy a pickup truck, and he has the receipts to prove where he legally came up with such a large sum of money.

But it doesn’t matter. Despite having done nothing wrong, and certainly nothing illegal, the cops take the man’s cash and leave.

If you’ve never heard of civil forfeiture, this entire scenario might sound ridiculous. But it’s something that happens more often than you might think. Civil forfeiture is the process by which law enforcement can confiscate cash or property they believe (key words) was obtained through illegal means. It’s a wild practice, but comes with one upside – it’s the perfect setup for a revenge thriller we can all get on board with.

In “Rebel Ridge,” from writer/director Jeremy Saulnier, the man on the bike is Terry (Aaron Pierre), a former marine and probably the worst person the police could have picked to mess with. In that sense, “Rebel Ridge” feels like a western, the classic story of a guy who comes to town and has to take on corruption at its worst – corruption that starts at the top, but permeates through at every level. But the characters Saulnier has created, whether they’re decent or nasty, never feel one-dimensional. “Rebel Ridge” is a crafty, complex, and rigidly intense thriller, ripe with the stink of systemic rot and the desperate measures that rot creates.

As the film goes along, civil forfeiture becomes a cog in a much larger conspiracy plot spearheaded by police chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson). Terry and a courthouse employee named Summer (AnnaSophia Robb) find themselves caught up in the conspiracy when Summer offers to help Terry and stumbles across something much larger than she was expecting.

“Rebel Ridge” is smartly constructed, and even though it sags under the weight of exposition in its middle, it rarely loses its tautness. You can feel the air, thick and muggy with tension throughout, David Gallego’s lush cinematography capturing the peace of America’s natural landscape in contrast with the corrosion at its center. The action scenes are as tense as they come, and a lot of that tension arises from just how clearly defined they are, the choreography quick and concise, impressive in its swiftness but never difficult to follow.

Terry slots easily into that sense of false tranquility. He’s stoic and quiet, content to blend into the background rather than cause a fuss. Even when he’s provoked into action, his movements are almost gentle, laying guys out as smoothly and painlessly as possible. As a protagonist, he is as competent as they come. He’s analytical and perceptive, filing every piece of information away for further use. His proficiency aligns with how dexterously the film is put together, from its pacing to its editing to its action.

Most audiences might know Pierre from his turn in Barry Jenkins’ “The Underground Railroad,” or M. Night Shyamalan’s “Old,” or last year’s “Foe,” in which he stole the show . “Rebel Ridge” taps into what is so appealing about him in “Foe” – his uncanny control of his face and physicality. In the opening scene where the cops take Terry’s money, and in any subsequent scene where he comes into contact with a police officer, Pierre is preternaturally still – polite, but calm in a way that telegraphs ability, so much so that for the first 30 minutes you’re on the edge of your seat waiting to figure out what, exactly, this guy is capable of. In the climactic moment where we find out, Terry faces off with police chief Sandy Burnne outside of the station. Terry – the picture of precision, his tightness around his eyes the only thing betraying his anger – plays with the chief like a cat playing with a bird, Sandy almost visibly gulping once it begins to dawn on him that he might not have the upper hand.

Throughout “Rebel Ridge,” Saulnier seems interested in what it means to be the middleman in a broken system. So many of the cogs involved in this conspiracy – the court clerk, the judge, even some of the cops themselves – are unwilling to confront their own complacency and involvement, choosing instead to ignore the problem at all costs. “I don’t want to know” is a ringing refrain throughout, and even Summer and Terry struggle with the idea of putting themselves in harm’s way to bring the chief to justice. They are cogs too – Summer has a child to think of, and Terry doesn’t want to cause any more trouble than he already has. But at some point, they are both pushed too far. “I gotta haunt these motherf*ckers myself,” Terry says, resolute desperation taking over.

But “Rebel Ridge” pays attention to Sandy’s desperation too, and his resolve to keep the station up and running no matter the cost – not excusing his actions, but rather informing them. The idea of de-escalation comes up for both Sandy and Terry numerous times throughout the film, both in conversation and in action. Terry attempts to go about retrieving his money legally multiple times, and Sandy more than once agrees to let Terry go to avoid a dust up. But in this case, de-escalation only amounts to one more cover up. What matters is if the cogs in the machine are willing to go along with the pressure cooker, or tamp it down.

The post Film Review: Aaron Pierre is a force to be reckoned with in ‘Rebel Ridge’ appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta .