IMDb plot summary: A former Marine grapples his way through a web of small-town corruption when an attempt to post bail for his cousin escalates into a violent standoff with the local police chief.
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier. Starring Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, and AnnaSophia Robb.
Rebel Ridge follows a man who is on the way to post bail for his cousin when the local cops pull him over and seize his money. He tries to get it back, but the police are having none of it, and he decides to take matters into his own hands. I first learned about civil forfeiture from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and it astounded me that something that seemed so blatantly wrong was an active legal practice, and this was a fascinating look at the specifics of how that can be used against people. The film is paced oddly, and I still can't decide if I like it or not -- it seems to jump from mood to mood throughout the course of the story, and I kept thinking it was one kind of story and then it would abruptly shift to another, which was often exciting, but also incohesive. That being said, it did effectively create an atmosphere of being trapped by corrupt authorities and having no available recourse. I'm not sure it stuck the landing as well as I'd have hoped, but I think some of that is coming from its uncertainty as to what kind of story it wanted to be -- if your story isn't clear, the ending isn't going to be able to fully satisfy. Still a good movie and worth a watch, but it was missing something for me to make it a great movie.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Rebel Ridge > Can't Hardly Wait
Rebel Ridge < Elf
Rebel Ridge < 7 Plus Seven
Rebel Ridge > You've Got Mail
Rebel Ridge > The HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Rebel Ridge > Glory
Rebel Ridge > Begin Again
Rebel Ridge > All That Jazz
Rebel Ridge > For a Few Dollars More
Rebel Ridge > Family Business
Rebel Ridge > National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Rebel Ridge > Mrs. Brown
Final spot: #1508 out of 4019, or 62%.
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