Rebel Ridge
I know it’s Halloween season and I should be reviewing horror films, but as I was searching for something to watch I was in a really bad mood. So I went with a film that is obviously in the vein of the old Rambo movies and I thought it’d be fun to see some cartoonish bad guys get theirs. I figured there would be some updates because the good guy is an African American vet in a time when vets are supposedly esteemed. I was right in some ways and I pressed start with much anticipation.
Terry is trying to bicycle to the town his cousin is incarcerated in so he can post bail for his misdemeanor possession charge. The bail is $36,000, which tells you right away something fishy is going on in this southern county. In this country a person can gun someone down on Main Street and the bail might be ten thousand. Nevertheless, the small town cops, all beard-wearing no necks, take all of Terry’s life savings and threaten him repeatedly after running him down with their cruiser. It’s plays out like many videos you can see on Audit the Audit. This kind of stuff happens all the time.
I found this updated Rambo set up pretty nifty. It’s a current problem and gives Terry a good reason to oppose the small town cops. He doesn’t immediately…er…go Rambo on them, though but tries really, really, REALLY hard to make things right through the system. He says “sir” a lot and speaks in a low and even tone. He even finds an ally in the form of a teeny woman who helps him try to work things through the system. This is another update, because Rambo never saw a woman in his life, I think.
The violence I kept waiting for, hoping for because I’m in a bad mood and want to see some bad guys righteously trashed, doesn’t come. Maybe it’s the difference in mood, I think for a while. In the 70s vets were anything but revered and were often spit on and called baby killers. Rambo was the cinematic antidote to that nonsense. The police act differently this time, too, what with the whole not hosing Terry down, beating him up and forcing him out of town. This time around they play a bit of cat and mouse and make deals and tell him to leave town. Which he does.
Finally, when the excrement hits the rotating wind mover, finally I think things are going to go the route that many films have gone in the last half century, using justifiable violence to solve a massive gordian knot of small town politics.
But Terry doesn’t go nuts like Rambo. The issues are covered in a much deeper way than they were fifty years ago, with lots of explanations and second, third, fourth chances given to everyone. It’s participation trophy revenge cinema. It’s a primer on modern constabulary malfeasance with a lot fewer grenades.
Overall, I will say it’s a well made movie. The acting is solid all around and the production cost cutting doesn’t get in the way of the story. I’m going to have to ponder how much has changed from the Rambo era and how it seems to have affected revenge porn. I recommend it, just don’t show it to your grandma or she might blow a gasket.
Available on: Netflix
LINKS:
CFR: In Addition
Oh wow.
Oh WOW!
So I have a happy memory of Rambo, as in the masterpiece that is the movie First Blood. You an read about that here: “First Blood” with Grandpa. That’s why this review is kicking my butt. I really want to see it now. Even though I will be infuriated by the racist BS. I think this movie could be very satisifying on many levels.
Thanks for the thoughts about revenge porn and waiting for the bloodbath, Cranky. That is something that is definitely interesting to consider.
Wow.
Chick Flicking Reviews 