Rebel Ridge: How the Director Made the Perfect Cut by Sacrificing the Coolest Action Scenes

Jeremy Saulnier’s latest Netflix movie, Rebel Ridge, is an action film with a distinctly human touch. Unlike stylized hits like John Wick or HiGH&LOW, the fisticuffs in Rebel Ridge are unshowy, grounded in reality, and all the more effective because of it.

Saulnier’s previous films like Blue Ruin and Green Room handle violence with gritty, realistic brutality. In Rebel Ridge, he dials down the gore for a blockbuster feel, without sacrificing an ounce of his signature groundedness.

“I think I’m here to subvert the trope of big action,” he says, chuckling about his method. “There’s an action hero coming up to you, pointing a gun, and [you feel] a chill run down your spine because you can relate to [the] stakes.” Through his stunts, which he says are intentionally clumsy and disorganized, Rebel Ridge takes aim at these expectations. “We’d have our stunt team coming up to me and asking, ‘How can you make something look so dirty and imperfect?’ And my response is, ‘Have you seen MMA? Nobody looks elegant in there – it’s just chaos.’

The response to Rebel Ridge has been encouraging, he says. After a secret screening in New Orleans for his crew, Saulnier noticed his stunt team appreciating his approach for the first time. “In the editing room, watching the first fight scene that we cut, I didn’t get it either initially. You can be overwhelmed by a beautifully choreographed fight,” he explains.

But eventually, Saulnier’s point hit home for his stunt team: an action hero can be powerful without showboating and without exploiting his physical advantage. With a note encouraging his crew to create more authentic battle scenarios, his vision crystallized.

“A lot of our most gorgeous, mind-blowing choreography had to cut because we realized we have to put [our actor’s physicality] back in focus. The punchline being that [choreographed] choreo didn’t feel true at all – [our actions] looked forced and superhuman, so it did not stay,” he relates.

Another twist: rather than serving up a pessimistic outcome like his usual fare, Rebel Ridge veers off the beaten track with an unexpected conclusion.

“I’ve made some heavy, some gruesome, sometimes just, like, grueling watches for people over the years,” Saulnier says thoughtfully. Instead, with Rebel Ridge, he aspired to generate a euphoric impact. To date, these efforts seem to be meeting with unprecedented success.

Is Rebel Ridge on Netflix – yes!