Jeremy Saulnier returns

Any time I write anything remotely negative about Netflix, inevitably, someone will pop up to berate me for slandering their favorite corporation. The argument is always the same—Netflix allows more people to watch more movies, AND they provide a platform for filmmakers who probably wouldn’t get a shot in the traditional Hollywood studio system. 

For sure, Netflix is convenient for consumers, I have never said otherwise. But people mostly just watch the same old sh-t, the idea of Netflix, or any streaming platform, being a bastion of discovery is misleading at best, false at worst. And those “outsider” filmmakers are the first to go as soon as the business hits turbulence.

But it IS true that Netflix often releases films I like. Hit Man, for instance, and Glass Onion and its upcoming threequel, Wake Up Dead Man. Netflix is part of the Hollywood ecosystem now, they will inevitably release films that I will watch the sh-t out of, even as I will never let up on how bad the streaming model has been for the economics of the business, which in turn makes everyone insane because everyone’s livelihood is constantly under stress. Anyway, yes, I WILL watch sh-t out of Rebel Ridge, which dropped its trailer yesterday.

It's the first feature film in six years from Jeremy Saulnier, the filmmaker behind such films as Blue Ruin and Green Room. Saulnier’s work is best described as “backwoods American thrillers with a flavor of brutal realism”. Blue Ruin, for instance, is basically “what if a normal guy tried to do a revenge fantasy”, and it goes exactly how you think it will. John Wick it is not.

Which is why Rebel Ridge is so immediately interesting—a Jeremy Saulnier film featuring a capable protagonist? Okay! The backwoods American setting is still there, but Rebel Ridge stars Aaron Pierre (formerly of The Underground Railroad, futurely of Mufasa: The Lion King) as a Marine trying to bail his cousin out of jail. One problem: corrupt smalltown cops abuse civil forfeiture to steal the bail money. (John Oliver explains how civil forfeiture is a mechanism of vast police corruption.)

There’s a flavor of First Blood here, with a veteran taking on corrupt local law enforcement, and I’m not mad at it. I am 100% here for a Jeremy Saulnier film in which the bad guys are the system, not just a rogue element. Like if this film gets to the end and the big reveal is that the bad guys aren’t up to anything at all, they’re just run of the mill cops abusing their power in run of the mill ways, I will SCREAM. Also, I must mention that Aaron Pierre is an English actor, and his American accent is flawless, but AnnaSophia Robb, an American, is doing a pretty bad Southern accent, further proof that actors aren’t as good at Southern accents as they think they are.

This film was shot two years ago, its production was beleaguered by pandemic delays and John Boyega exiting the lead role rather mysteriously after production began. Aaron Pierre was found a few months later and production resumed, with filming finally concluding in summer 2022. Now, finally, we get to see Jeremy Saulnier’s next work, and it does look worth the wait. Do I wish I could see this on a big screen? Absolutely. Saulnier’s work is very beautiful despite frequently brutal and bloody action sequences. But it’s a Netflix movie, so the couch it is.