Review: An Action Movie About Civil Asset Forfeiture

Netflix's Rebel Ridge is a thrilling tale about an ordinary man wronged by an unjust system.

Netflix's Rebel Ridge is the rarest of things: a taut, tense thriller packed with rip-roaring action that is also a detailed and believably accurate take on public policy. Specifically, it's about civil asset forfeiture, the drug war, and municipal budget corruption. It's a civil asset forfeiture revenge film: part Rambo, part Reacher, part Institute for Justice legal brief.

Rebel Ridge follows an ex-Marine who gets knocked off his bike by a pair of local cops. In what is effectively a robbery, the cops seize the bag of cash he's carrying to bail out a family member. But because the cops suspect it's drug money, the theft is legal. So the Marine takes matters into his own hands, discovering a citywide budget conspiracy as he does.

Rebel Ridge will leave viewers with no doubt as to its point of view. But it's not what one might normally think of as a political movie: There are no grand moralizing speeches, no shameless, saccharine subplots designed to tug at your heartstrings. It's just a thrilling tale about an ordinary man wronged by an unjust system and getting back at it satisfyingly.

Comments

[rbike]

Is there a large Komatsu bulldozer modified with improvised armor used to take revenge? All eminent domain movies should feature this.

[Medulla Oblongata]

My nephew gave me a Hot Wheels Killdozer for Christmas last year!

[SRG2]

It was a decent action thriller, doesn’t insult the intelligence, obvious comparisons with Rambo, though “stranger rides into town with corrupt sheriff” is an ancient trope. Aaron Pierre is a great lead and Don Johnson a reliable villain. I wouldn’t say it’s a must watch but deffo an absorbing two hours. Some reviewers thought it was too long but IMO if your focus is on suspense rather than violence, you need periods of time where nothing is happening but something may be about to.

[diver64]

Of course black guy wronged by racist cops. Of course it is...

[SRG2]

Doesn't happen in practice, right?

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6827494

[voluntaryist]

Well made, except it tries to show the system is corrupted by a very homicidal maniac who forces other cops to support him. They go along until one victim is so respectfully compliant that they begin to take his side. Is this believable? Is this what happens when we comply? Can we "comply our way to justice"? The American Revolt was both violent and non-violent. It took both. Need it? Or, could the British subjects who committed treason have achieved sovereignty non-violently, as the Indian and Canadian subjects did?