Rebel Ridge - Review (2024) | Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson & AnnaSophia Robb | Netflix

now listen I'm sure you all can agree when it comes down to these Netflix films sometimes a little bit of a hit or miss especially with action but I'm going tell you right now this one is certainly one you want to go out the way to check out is really good and in fact it might be Netflix's best film this year folks let's jump into the review of the new film Rebel Ridge what's up everybody and welcome back to the channel today for another review and today we're reviewing the new film Rebel Ridge coming to Netflix September 6 so what really drew me to this film was the fact that my guy Aaron Pierre who just killed it as Malcolm matz in the genius MLK X Series earlier this year um and and and as some mind that's a little bit of a history buff I'm always super interested in American history uh whether it's a documentary docu series or some measure of a dramatization and then especially when you're talking about some of these icons such as MLK or michol Mets you really want to see the acting work behind it and thus enters Aaron Pierre who go out the way and check out that let me just say that right now go check out that and his performance in Malcolm XS because at that point will you just so greatly appreciate how good of an actor he is in this because man if he was not on your radar he is now and if he's not one of the candidates for the next big action star you know along the likes of somebody like Allan Richardson I I don't know what because he was fantastic in this film and while his performance was fantastic and some others where I will name in a second the story was good at every point of the story you just continue to stay invested you know there was so much happening I mean like the convergence of all of the drama that was happening and the way how they kind of nailed the ending I mean what more can you ask for with a solid third third act um that definitely brought um all the action while I wasn't so big on the the ultimate ending but the third Act and the action and everything that got to that point I mean it it it just was great it really was great but you know first of all let's talk about what this film is and it is um the story of ex-marine Terry Richardson as he bikes through this small town and I'm going to tell you right now I'm not a fan of small towns at times because when you go down to some of these Confederate states as a black person these small towns are typically a place you don't want to be at alone but nonetheless he's there because he's trying to post bail for his cousin and when he did all the ethical things to make this happen the corruption of this town hit him head on um and it becomes a violent standoff with the local police chief and so many more folks that the police chief is tied to especially with this small town because as you know a small town everyone knows everybody and the police chief is probably at the top of the hierarchy which means he makes the call PE people listen and this it becomes this one guy maybe more um against this whole system and beyond his motivation of trying to get his cousin out by posting bail you know he's also trying to break down this system that's around that's been in place that's preventing him from doing what he needs to do and of course it helps that he has an exm Marine background so with that being said I I I I can't speak highly enough of Aaron's performance but I also got to say that Anna Sophia Rob is a summer uh who is basically a clerk inside the courthouse she's great she's really good she gives you a roller coaster of emotions and I don't want to give too much about her but when you learn about her background about what she's trying to pursue you know why she's King to Terry you know and the journey that they go on and trying to uncover the the the corruption I mean it it's it's it's a perfect pairing in terms of how they built these characters but between that the two aors they just really really work great together and then I villain um the chief Sandy uh burn uh listen Don Johnson here uh such a like such a likable person fantastic smile makes a absolute I mean how do you how first of all I am a huge huge Miami Vice fan to see him as the villain sort of breaks my heart but again he's such a likable person and the fact that we see him in this light um it just shows you why he has such a long career in Hollywood that he can do it all and you know rather he's detective Crockett or rather he is Chief uh burn you know this guy is great so I think in order to have a good villain a good a good a good uh protagonist you need a great antagonist and I think that Aaron and da they work well against each other and there's some varant standoffs with one another and you buy right into it you buy right into it but with that being said listen the thing is with the plot which I already explained that's the story but also there's so much that goes that's involved with like the the setting the location in terms of just like the corruption and then like understanding like the preses why they don't lean into per se racism but the Prejudice is so heavy in the film that you as the viewer you know especially if you are a good human you get so invested into just that alone because at any point you understand that police brutality is a factor in this and at any given point it could ultimately be a game changer for any of these characters because the police are playing by their own rules they got their own system their system is it's almost so tight that it doesn't seem like they can ever be uh brought down but you cheer you cheer for Terry because you want to see Terry break it down you want to see Terry get Justice you want to see Terry um unfold all the corruption and get his cousin out so like there's so much emotionally you want to get involved with with the film but then there's the action because for all the things that they build up to to get to the third act the third act action um is the ultimate payoff while I did not love the ending the ending I don't think totally landed it felt a little you know too left open to to to too many like you know they did not a not a strong period at the end of the sentence you know a little the door has not just a crap but a maybe just very much a jar at a point um I I think I would have liked a more solid ending with this film and I mean not a cliffhanger like what could be next or anything like you expect with some action film just like a wait is that it and I'll say on that note I felt like the film maybe could have been trimmed a little bit it was definitely a long film I think it was like 2 hours and 12 minutes I feel like it could have really respectfully cut off about maybe 20 minutes of the film but for what is worth every moment of the runtime did count because if it wasn't you getting an understanding and emotionally be invested into these characters and sometimes it it drug along a little bit longer than you may have wanted they definitely need make sure that it was intentional so that you cared about these characters you cared about the corruption in the city you saw the Dilemma with some characters you saw folks that you know maybe flipping sides on you know where they stand at with everything you know like they they they I think they did a good job of making sure that the time was worth it but at the end of the day it's an action film and you want to keep the pace going you know you when we on the highes we want to stay on the highes but at times it was like a lot of things and it was kind of like back to the drawing board with like drawing out the character so like you know I I I would I would definitely more or less enjoyed if about 20 minutes or so was chopped off then there was some CGI pretty early in the film that had me extremely worried about how practical the film was going to be with the stunts um and I will lean towards the idea of saying that it definitely was way more practical than with the CG involved but they're definitely at a point where you was just like I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope we don't have much more of what you saw pretty early in the film and I will just mention that it has to do with a bike crash where you're just like yeah that that that was pretty obvious that it was CGI um but listen I will say that this film without a doubt was great on so many levels from performances I thought there was some again really good action uh the the the choreography was good I mean listen when you're ex-marine you got to walk that walk talk that talk and you at every Point believed Terry was the real deal you know and when you even with times when you felt like he was completely you know compromised or he was at his demise he didn't know what he was going to do what was going to be next you know you still very much understood that this guy and his unlimited potential here was going to hold it down to get justice so like complete action star Aaron is that there's no question about it and then I can't stress enough that Anna Sophia as summer I mean this character she comes on screen you instantly love her you instantly pour your heart heart out for her the ups and downs that this this character goes on you can't help to root for her win and alongside of Terry you know summer and Terry they're going to work together to bring the system down and going back to Don as Sandy Don man I feel portrayed because I've liked him so long as the good guy and seeing him in this capacity was kind of like but fantastic actor because that's when you know you're doing something right when you can get the viewers to um invoke emotions and that they did that they absolutely did so rebel rdge I I'll say it again it's one of Netflix's best film this year because with the action you got good story and with the story you got good action and while everything builds up for a great payoff in the third app the ending could have been just a little bit more tight instead of it being kind of left a little too open like too open to the point that I was very confident that there was going to be a mid credit Stinger of sorts and that wasn't a thing but I would love to see them come back in some way somehow continue this story or just give me Aaron in another action film I I I think he's definitely one of the next Premiere actors I think him Allan Richardson these folks are going to be the next big Hollywood action stars and this is right now the time to get on the band whack and before it's too late so check out Rubble rdge fantastic film on Netflix September 6 jump in the comments fol let me know your thoughts your excitement for this one and as always stick around for more reviews real soon thank you for watching [Music] he [Music]