Saulnier — who dealt with frontier justice and lawlessness in his previous Blue Ruin and Green Room — has given this action-thriller loads of social context: racism, opioid addiction, the cash bail system, small-town funding and militarized cops.
Like its leading man, Rebel Ridge is a lean, muscular movie with few over-the-top special effects, save for Pierre’s spectacular eyes. It’s a triumph of small-budget, naturalistic filmmaking, where cars on a gravel road kick up choking clouds of dust and arm bones crack when pressure is applied.
The script is spare — allowing for some homespun poetry like “You know the thing about a pissing contest? Everybody gets piss on their boots” — and without an ounce of fat. So if a bottle of coconut water is brought up in one scene, it’s going be used in another. There are interesting camera angles, like the backseat of a speeding car or a tense cell phone call inside an old-fashioned phone booth.
There’s also great use of dramatic underscoring by Brooke and Will Blair, who build discordant waves that grow slack, only to reappear like a shark. The score — including “Wayfaring Stranger” by Neko Case or “Right Brigade” by Bad Brains — are heard only on car radios or headphones or playing in restaurants. Distant thunder sounds often.