All bow down: Netflix has yet another new no.1 movie that's quickly risen to the top of the streamer's charts. And everyone is saying the same thing about its lead, played by Aaron Pierre.
Rebel Ridge is a Netflix Original movie – and a rare one, given it has netted a lofty 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes – which takes no prisoners in its hard-hitting action. That'll help rise Netflix up the ladder as one of the best streaming services.
As you can see in the trailer, embedded above, Pierre's brooding performance is what gives Rebel Ridge its edge. Fans are enamoured by not only his physical transformation for this role, but also his on-screen performance.
"Rebel Ridge was one of the best-written, best-cast movies I have seen in a very, very long time," says one reviewer. Another reviewer sums it up, stating: "Aaron Pierre is superb in this role" – as echoed by another, calling him "excellent".
That said, as ever the Rotten Tomatoes score is only one side of the story: the Popcornmeter (the recently renamed audience score) is sat lower, at 74%, defying the critics' ratings average. But that's not down to Pierre's performance, it's more to do with the movie's pacing.
"This movie was boring," reads one, with expectations of Rambo First Blood. "Did I miss something here?," asks another, before echoing the same sentiment: "This film was boring." Clearly not everyone is a fan of Jeremy Saulnier's directing, then.
Saulnier is well known in the industry, though, having directed a couple of episodes of the excellent True Detective (2019), with other big movies such as Green Room (2015) and Blue Ruin (2013) under his directorial belt. Rebel Ridge is the highest-rated on the bunch, though – and clearly the beginning of yet more successful roles for Pierre, who is on fire right now.
