Rebel Ridge ending explained: Is Terry successful?

The original crime film is written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin and Green Room) and stars the impressive Aaron Pierre as Terry Richmond, a former Marine who discovers a major cop corruption scandal in the fictional Louisiana town of Shelby Springs, while he is attempting to post bail for his cousin.

Slow-burning but rife with tension, it's a riveting watch that follows Terry after his money is taken from him and he attempts to retrieve it – using both the skills and philosophy he learned as a close combat expert.

As the scale of the corruption becomes increasingly apparent, things ratchet up until we reach a cathartic, high-octane finale that brings several of the film's characters into a major conflict.

Seen the film and need those final moments unpacked? Read on to have the Rebel Ridge ending explained.

Rebel Ridge ending explained: Is Terry successful?

Let's start with a recap of the events leading up to the final showdown. The film opens with Terry cycling to Shelby Springs to post bail for his cousin Mike, but the plan quickly goes sour when he is detained by a pair of police officers who then seize his cash.

This puts Terry at risk of not being able to provide bail before Mike's transfer to state prison, where he would find himself in significant danger, but Terry finds little help from the authorities in Shelby Springs and soon makes an enemy of the town's police chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson). He does, however, find one ally in courthouse employee Summer (AnnaSophia Robb).

In the events that follow, we learn that Terry is a close quarters combat expert and he uses his skills to get the bail money back. But he is too late – Mike was stabbed soon after arriving at state prison and died from his wounds.

Summer appeals to Terry for help in looking into what she believes to be a major corruption scandal – which has seen several people mysteriously held in jail for 90 days over misdemeanours – but Terry is not initially interested in helping.

However, things take a turn when Summer is injected with drugs in her sleep and calls Terry desperate for help. When he re-enters the town, more suspicious events continue to occur and eventually Summer and Terry are able to extract some information from the town's judge (James Cromwell), who informs them that the 90-day scheme is all part of a complicated plan to make up funding shortfalls.

Things aren't looking great for Summer and Terry, but they realise that by retrieving SD cards containing dashcam footage from the police they will be able to expose the scam. They are successful in getting the files, but in the process Summer is captured after she tried to destroy a urine sample which had been taken from her the day after the aforementioned drugging incident and risked seeing her lose custody of her kid.

Terry agrees with Officer Lann (Emory Cohen), one of the cops involved in the scandal, to give back the SD cards if he releases Summer – seemingly setting the scene for the final confrontation at Rebel Ridge, where a large armed police unit has been stationed.

But instead of heading straight there, Terry first goes to the police station – where despite subduing Burnne, he is in turn detained by Deputy Jessica Sims (Zsané Jhé). The final confrontation occurs in the parking lot outside, as we learn that one of the cops who had initially arrested Terry, Officer Marston (David Denman) had actually been informing Summer – who is now at risk of overdosing aftrer being injected by Lann.

In the melee that follows, Marston is shot by Burnne, who in turn orders his officers to kill Terry – but none of them are able to defeat him. As he bleeds out, Marston explains to Terry that if he activates a police cruiser siren it will save three minutes of dashcam footage, and after doing so the two of them are able to flee with Summer in tow.

Although Burnne pursues, he is soon taken out by Sims, who finally decides to go against her boss, wrecking his plan for good. The film ends after Terry, Marston and Summer arrive at the hospital, with the latter two admitted for urgent care while Terry is able to secure the incriminating dashcam footage – which will presumably be used to bring the Shelby Springs authorities to justice.

Rebel Ridge is now streaming on Netflix – sign up from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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