Netflix’s new crime thriller Rebel Ridge is two-plus hours of the explosive outcome that occurs when corruption and morality intersect.
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room), the film is experienced through the eyes of the protagonist, Terry Richmond, portrayed by Aaron Pierre. Terry is an ex-marine who bikes into Shelby Springs hoping to bail his cousin out of jail when his run-in with the police turns into more than just the common small-town racial profiling.
After the crooked cops run off with the money he planned on using to bring his cousin home, Terry tries his luck at filing a report, only to learn the town’s chief of police, Chief Sandy Burnne, played by Don Johnson, is the key to the chaos.
“That’s what attracted me to this part. The morality, the corruption, the violence and the fact that this storytelling is so sophisticated and interesting,” Johnson told Blavity’s Shadow and Act.
He continued, “It’s not so sophisticated that you can’t follow it. It’s sophisticated in that it’s multilayered. And it starts to be one thing, and then it just morphs right in front of your eyes to become something else.”
With a career spanning over five decades, Johnson has played characters on both sides of the badge, including his iconic breakout role as Sonny Crockett in the 1980s hit Miami Vice.
That made Saulnier reach out to him for the role.
“I’ve been a fan of his for as long as I can remember, and I’ve tracked him for decades. With the character of Chief Sandy Burnne, there was an opportunity to let Don have a little fun and chew on some dialogue but hold close his ability to come off dead serious and almost reptilian,” Saulnier told us.
He continued, “We’d get quiet, keep it subtle, almost create live theater between him and Aaron Pierre. The core of the movie is the charge between those two — not only the potential for violence, but that contrasting idea of sort of gentlemanly respect. Game recognizes game.”
Despite his tenure, Johnson avoided “parental lecturing” when working alongside Pierre. He took more of a “modeling” approach that he felt had sustained him throughout his career.
While viewers may be familiar with Johnson’s range, Pierre’s performance as a hand-to-hand combat-trained Marine may be a shocker. The 6-foot-3-inch Brixton, London, native moves effortlessly on screen in Rambo-style scenes requiring more than gun training.
Saulnier revealed the team worked with Jariko Denman, an army ranger, and Keith Woulard, a retired Navy SEAL, to supervise the stunts and ensure that they were as authentic as possible. The film’s co-stunt coordinator, Cory DeMeyers, added wisdom from his lifelong career as a martial artist and parkour world champion.
As impressive as Pierre was in executing Terry’s lightning-fast disarming skills while fighting off an entire town, his battle talents came second to his performance as a man pushed to his emotional and mental edge.
“I always strive to learn and grow and evolve until the final scene,” Pierre told S&A.
The Underground Railroad star continued speaking on the mental endurance of his character: “I’ve had countless life experiences and personal life experiences where I’ve had to exercise patience. I’ve had to exercise wherewithal, durability and endurance, and at times when I just wanted to stop, give up and get into bed. So I pulled on those in an effort to bring as much authenticity to Terry as I could. Terry Richmond himself embodies qualities that I aspire to, but I did my best to draw from my own personal life experience to bring that character to life.”
Terry’s one beacon of light in the small town is the court clerk, Summer McBride, played by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s AnnaSophia Robb. Summer helps Terry hatch a plan to stop the corrupted police force in their tracks, even after they do the unthinkable.
“I didn’t know that I needed this script. As an actor, as a person,” Robb said.
Robb mentioned how “real” and “nuanced” each character was, and how this made them make choices they felt were justified.
“They believe it’s right. Nobody’s just evil. They’re operating this way. Summer realizes that she can keep going and learn the consequences of what it means to keep going down that path and only take care of her own skin — or do something. For me, that is how I want to live my life,” Robb said, and she discussed how the movie puts emphasis on the “domino effect” of choices. “I think that is a really important thing to walk out of this movie with. You use an individual choosing to do the right thing, and seeing somebody in pain and stopping it makes a difference. That is enough.”
Rebel Ridge will not leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. The constant fight against corruption, systemic racism and unjust allegiances will make you angry — but you surely won’t be able to look away.
Rebel Ridge is now streaming on Netflix.
