Review: Star-making performance propels Netflix revenge thriller ‘Rebel Ridge’

In Jeremy Saulnier’s “Rebel Ridge,” a “Rambo”-inspired riff on racial profiling and the insidious banality of evil baked into American policing, the filmmaker demonstrates his mastery of the taut action thriller. But in “Rebel Ridge,” Saulnier’s examination of space and pace transcends anything that has come before, as he coolly alternates extreme control with bursts of explosive fury over the course of two-plus hours. The story and style of “Rebel Ridge,” which Saulnier wrote, directed and edited, centers on Terry, a man caught in a crushingly quotidian nightmare that spins out of control. A lot of talk of police procedure leads to the action of “Rebel Ridge,” though Saulnier seeds bursts of violence throughout as Terry seizes control.