Rebel Ridge held off stiff competition from Uglies to continue being the most-watched movie on Netflix over the past week, with the action-thriller keeping viewers hooked through to its twisty final act.
Just as he's about to post bail for his cousin Mike in the small town of Shelby Springs, Terry (Aaron Pierre, who replaced John Boyega in the movie) is pulled over by the cops who seize his money, despite no proof of criminal activity.
Terry attempts to get his money back, but is stonewalled by Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson) who claims what his officers did was legal. With no hope for Mike if bail isn't posted, Terry finds an unlikely ally in court clerk Summer (AnnaSophia Robb).
They soon discover what happened to Terry is no one-off incident, and uncover a conspiracy at the heart of Shelby Springs. But what actually is happening, and how did Mike get involved in it?
If you got a bit confused by the movie's twists and revelations, we're here to help by delving into the events of Rebel Ridge, including its ending. Major spoilers ahead.
Rebel Ridge ending explained
The reason why Terry was so keen to get his cousin out on bail is that he was previously a witness in a murder trial. If Mike gets transferred to state prison, Terry knows that he'll be targeted and potentially killed.
What to Read Next
Unfortunately, that proves to be the case after the Chief moves up Mike's transfer, and also refuses Terry's deal of letting him have $10,000 for bail while the police keep the rest. Mike is fatally attacked in prison and, recognising his error, the Chief gives the money back and lets Terry leave town.
Mike was just one of several people arrested and left in jail for 90 days over the past two years in Shelby Springs. None of them were formally charged and all were arrested for offences that don't even carry jail time.
Summer is investigating the strange arrests and asks for Terry's help, but he just wants to get out of town. That is until Summer is targeted to stop her investigation, with the corrupt officers drugging her and putting her career at risk, as well as the custody of her daughter.
The Chief isn't actually doing anything illegal in Shelby Springs. Rebel Ridge is a fictional tale, not based on any true events, but civil asset forfeiture is a real-life loophole in anti-drug regulation, allowing law enforcement to seize property from citizens if illegal activity is suspected – even if no proof exists.
However, what happened to Mike is the reason why Terry and Summer are being targeted. Dashcam footage of Mike's arrest would have led to a lawsuit against the department, and the Chief couldn't allow that.
Two years earlier, the Chief was named in a wrongful death suit following an illegal search which nearly bankrupted the town. He was given a year to clean up and "modernise" the department, but really it was a ploy from the judge to force the Chief out and hand the police contract over to the state.
However, the Chief had other ideas and started to build a healthy stream of money through civil asset forfeiture, with the proceeds funding not only the department but also the town's payroll, public works and more.
If Mike managed to sue the department over his arrest and win, it'd bankrupt the department and the Chief would lose control. The reason he was being held for 90 days – as with all the other people arrested and held for 90 days – is that after that time, any dashcam footage is deleted if not legally requested for a court case.
In order to expose the corruption in the Shelby Springs police department, Terry and Summer break into the courthouse to steal the dashcam footage, stored on SD cards. They manage to find them, but Summer is taken by Officer Lann (Emory Cohen).
Terry sets up an exchange for the next day which ends up going south when he mistakenly thinks Officer Sims (Zsané Jhé) is Summer's "friend" within the police. Sims destroys the SD cards and holds Terry at gunpoint, before Officer Marston (David Denman) reveals himself as Summer's friend.
He's shot in the leg as a result, but Terry manages to get him to safety. Marston tells him to activate the dashcam as it will capture what happens three minutes before the recording started, exposing the Chief and his corrupt officers for destroying evidence among other things.
Terry, Summer and Marston escape in a police cruiser and just when they're about to be chased down, Sims redeems herself and crashes into the Chief's car. They make it to hospital and in the final scene, Terry takes the dashcam footage from the car.
We don't see whether or not he manages to use it to take the Chief down and get justice for Mike, but we can be hopeful that the Chief won't be able to wiggle out of this one.
If you're wondering just why Rebel Ridge didn't end with a huge shoot-out between Terry and the corrupt cops, writer/director Jeremy Saulnier said you have to remember that he's not "on a mission of morality".
"He's a good f**king guy, and he realises that there's an ally among them. [And] he's got a f*king human shield," he told Vulture. "Whatever allegiance they have, how this might end up, how they have to debrief the state police, in that moment it's like, 'This doesn't f**king feel right'."
As for what happens next, Saulnier wants to leave you to make up your own mind about that.
"If there's any one thing I'm going for, it's simply to activate an involuntary response in the audience," he told TUDUM. "As far as what an audience might take away from it all, that's thankfully out of my hands now. But I'm fully at peace knowing I gave it everything I got."
Rebel Ridge is available to watch now on Netflix.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
