Spoiler alert: The following article contains major spoilers for Rebel RidgeIf you haven’t watched the new Netflix movie yet, avoid the town of Shelby Springs.
I became a huge fan of Jeremy Saulnier as soon as I watched Blue Ruin ten years ago, and I’ve been following the filmmaker ever since. So you can imagine how excited I was when I found out that Rebel Ridge was on the 2024 Movie Schedule. After watching the Netflix original series 2024I totally agree with What the critics said about Aaron Pierre’s magnetic performance, and I think it’s definitely one of the best action movies in recent memory.
But more than that, I love the way the Rebel Ridge The ending defies the conventions of action cinema. I’ll explain the explosive conclusion of this revenge thriller, what I hope it means for the genre, and what the film’s director has to say about his new approach to violence.
What happens in the Rebel Ridge ending
Rebel Ridge The story follows Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) as he first attempts to get his cousin out of jail in Shelby Springs, Louisiana, before he is taken to a state prison where he will be a marked man for testifying in a previous case. But when his bail money is seized (read: stolen) by local police via civil forfeiture, Terry’s cousin is stabbed to death, and the former Marine’s attempt to set the record straight after uncovering Chief Sandy Burnne’s (Don Johnson) corrupt scheme leads to an epic showdown at the precinct.
Terry’s attempts to peacefully gather evidence that would incriminate nearly the entire police force and a cash-strapped community are ultimately successful, but not before he declares war on the officers. Rather than using lethal force (which he would have every right to do given everything that has happened), the seasoned veteran uses less lethal but nonetheless impressive means to settle scores and finally shine a light on injustices.
How The Final Showdown defies action movie conventions
All of the best westerns as Unforgiven At best science fiction movies as The Matrix I saw the heroes go crazy at the end and kill pretty much everyone in their path. Rebel Ridge Terry is seen waging a one-man war against the Shelby Springs Police Department in the final act, not killing a single person, though some, like Officer Steve Lann (Emory Cohen), have their faces smashed to pulp before it’s all said and done. And honestly, it’s refreshing to see a different take on the “final showdown” we’ve seen in countless action movies over the years.
Terry has every reason to kill each of these corrupt cops, but he decides to hurt them, knowing that killing them would prevent them from facing the real consequences of their scheme to steal money from low-level criminals, and would most likely hurt his case and make him look like a crazed killer. This more pragmatic approach speaks volumes about his character and director Jeremy Saulnier’s take on action movie conventions.
Terry’s non-lethal but incredibly violent approach makes sense
When I first heard about it Rebel RidgeI thought the film, like Jeremy Saulnier’s previous films, would end with an intense confrontation where the hero would violently attack and then kill his tormentor as well as anyone who stood in his way. Although Terry Richmond goes to war with the Shelby Springs police, he doesn’t kill anyone, and this makes perfect sense given his actions throughout the first two hours of the film.
Throughout Rebel RidgeTerry does everything he can to handle things without resorting to deadly force, and even goes so far as to save several people, even those who wronged him earlier in the film. This is especially true in the case of Officer Evan Marston (David Denman), the cop who arrested Terry and robbed him of his $36,000 in cash to set the whole situation in motion. The veteran, who ran the Marine Corps’ martial arts program (as revealed in one of the best-directed scenes of Saulnier’s career) before leaving the military, puts his own life on the line to save Marston after Chief Burnne shoots him and leaves him for dead.
To return to an old point, Terry also knows what it would be like for a black man to kill a group of white police officers in the South, and knows that this course of action could potentially make things much worse for everyone involved.
I would like to see this approach in more action movies
Don’t get me wrong, I love watching movies like these. John Woo classic movieswhere the story ends with the hero taking out everyone in a bloody and spectacular way, but as I said earlier, it’s refreshing to see how Jeremy Saulnier has challenged the tried and true scenario where the hero defeats the antagonist in a hail of bullets. We’ve seen it in the best Batman movies where the masked vigilante doesn’t resort to murder to save Gotham, and it’s time the same was said of the action genre.
It’s not like Terry Richmond’s attack on the police department isn’t action-packed, but this non-lethal approach actually makes the whole scene a lot more creative and fun. Rubber bullets, bean bags, tear gas, and other less lethal means of conflict resolution are on full display, and it would be interesting to see how other filmmakers might take this approach in the future.
What Director Jeremy Saulnier Said About His Handling of Violence in Rebel Ridge
Like other films by Jeremey Saulnier, Rebel Ridge ends with a big confrontation, but Rebel Ridge is different in that no one is killed (in fact, only one person dies in the entire film). This was a conscious decision on the filmmaker’s part, as he revealed in an interview with CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg ahead of the film’s release, primarily motivated by a desire to share the film with his children:
I think sometimes you just need something new. I have three daughters and I’ve shielded them from all my films. [Laugh]. Don’t worry, Rebel Ridge is still a good R. We got that. But they’re pretty old now.
As Saulnier points out, Terry Richmond is a different kind of protagonist than we’ve seen in his previous films, in that he’s competent and not some random schlub who stumbled upon something. In speaking to this point, the director also said that he wanted to see “something else” of himself, stating:
I usually put idiots and incompetent people in these cinematic situations. This was a fun change of pace. And then, who knows what the exact intention was? Maybe I just wanted to see something else from myself. Like, can I make a movie where you don’t walk out of the theater feeling terrified? [Laugh]…The feedback isn’t what I’m used to, but it’s thunderous and it’s going to be fun to continue on this path.
And who knows, maybe Saulnier will continue on this path. For my part, I am all for it if that is the case.
You can currently stream Rebel Ridge with a Netflix subscription. And don’t forget to check out Interview with the director by ReelBlend to learn more about what could be one of the best films of the year.
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