First trailer for Netflix's Rebel Ridge movie looks like a modern retelling of iconic 80s action film Rambo, and I'm all in
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Netflix has some pretty solid choices across its catalog of action and crime titles, including movies like Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (2019), and it's about to get bigger with the addition of a new crime thriller called Rebel Ridge. The movie comes from the mind behind A24’s Green Room (2015), Jeremy Saulnier, who has reprised his role as writer and director for the new Netflix movie, which is set to arrive on one of the best streaming services on September 6.
In the trailer (see below), which dropped yesterday (August 7), Aaron Pierre bursts into the frame as Terry Richmond, who arrives in the small town of Shelby Springs on a mission to post his cousin’s bail and free him. It’s not long before his mission becomes a complicated situation when law enforcement unfairly seize his life’s savings, and police chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson) and a team of fellow officers stand in his way of saving his cousin. Sounds familiar? You're not alone. The trailer makes it appear like a modern take on the ‘80s classic Rambo.
Among the chaos, Richmond meets court clerk Summer (AnnaSophia Robb), who together become fixated on a mysterious conspiracy embedded within the town. The trailer hints at the extent Richmond must go to ensure justice is brought on his family and the surrounding community, with Saulnier telling Netflix Tudum: "For this movie, I wanted to tap into how the rest of us react to said systems, how infuriating they can be – from corrupt politicians down to the endless loop of a customer service call gone wrong."
Rambo has a twenty-first century glow up
From the sneak peek we get in the trailer, there’s something about the action thriller elements that allude to those in the ‘80s Rambo movie franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. And since Saulnier spoke with Netflix about his admiration for gritty action films, this allusion makes a whole lot of sense, with him sharing the following:
“As a filmmaker, I dig grounded ’80s and ’90s action films that not only deliver on spectacle, but succeed in tying on-screen mayhem to a real and true emotional component. Smaller scale, bigger impact. Less veneer, less artificiality”.
But Sauliner’s next action title seems to offer more than the typical violence we’re used to seeing in crime movies, layering the narrative with an underlying social commentary in the form of a jab at the current injustices within the police force. The trailer alone evokes the right dose of emotion, set in the backdrop of a corrupt political climate where the authorities threaten local communities as opposed to keeping them safe.
