The ending of 'Rebel Ridge' explained: Will Terry get justice?

Netflix's “Rebel Ridge” has very exciting final moments and a complex ending

Warning: Rebel Crest Warning, spoilers!

In the Netflix series “Small Town Corruption,” a former Marine with deadly skills meets Rebel Crest.

Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, the film follows ex-Marine Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) as he tries to pay bail for his cousin Mike. While riding his bike through Shelby Springs, two police officers decide to harass Terry and discover that he has thousands of dollars on him – the money he was trying to use to bail his cousin out of jail.

Deputies Steve Lann (Emory Cohen) and Evan Marston (David Denman) steal the money, unaware that they have just made an enemy of a graduate of the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program who specializes in non-lethal combat techniques.

Terry attempts to peacefully reclaim his property, but Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson), who funds his police department with money seized through asset forfeiture, has no interest in negotiating. Asset forfeiture is a legal process that allows police to keep and/or sell property allegedly linked to criminal activity, even before a trial has taken place. Tensions rise exponentially when Terry learns that his cousin Mike was killed in prison. The former Marine has no choice but to seek revenge by exposing the corruption within the Shelby Springs Police Department.

Saulnier told Tudum that there was “a certain catharsis” during Rebel CrestDespite the two-hour running time, the ending still left some viewers with questions.

Here you can find out everything you need to know about the Rebel Crest End.

How is Rebel Crest End?

With the help of court assistant Summer McBride (AnnaSophia Robb) – who has an unnamed police informant – Terry manages to get to the bottom of the small town's corruption by questioning Judge Logston (James Cromwell). Wracked with a guilty conscience, he reveals that he helped Burnne increase bail and keep the defendants in prison “purgatory” for 90 days – the exact amount of time dashcam footage is stored for before being deleted, destroying evidence of their wrongful imprisonment.

Convinced that the footage is evidence of police misconduct, Terry and Summer break into City Hall to retrieve the SD cards containing the evidence. Summer is eventually caught by the police and Terry takes revenge by kidnapping a young cop. The hostage exchange is scheduled to take place at Rebel Ridge, but Terry goes to the police station hoping to subdue Burnne while all his cops are away. He is stopped by Deputy Jessica Sims (Zsané Jhé), who he mistakenly believed to be Summer's informant. She hands Terry over to her colleagues – but Summer's real informant, Deputy Marston, intervenes.

After Marston rushes to Terry's aid, Burnne shoots him in the leg. Terry, thanks to his Marine training, manages to pull Marston and Summer out of the gunfight alive, and thanks to Marston's quick reaction, his dashcam captures everything.

The police pursue the trio, whose car has a flat tire. Speed ​​is not on their side and Terry, Summer and Marston must accept that the corrupt police team will resort to deadly measures to get their hands on the dashboard camera footage.

Their fortunes change when Sims switches sides and rams her vehicle into Burnne's SUV. The remaining pursuers notice this and escort Terry's car to the hospital instead of pursuing them. Terry, Summer, and Marston arrive safely and Burnne is taken into custody by the state police. The film ends with Terry retrieving the digital video recorder (DVR) from Marston's police car before sitting down on a bench in the hospital.

Why did Marston and Sims start helping Terry?

During the shootout at the police station, it becomes clear that some of the officers are unsure of where their loyalties lie after watching Burnne shoot their colleague Marston.

“I don't know who to shoot,” an officer tells Sims, who replies, “Then maybe don't shoot.”

When Sims runs Burnne off the road, the police apparently feel morally obligated to follow suit and escort Marston and Summer to the hospital, where they receive life-saving medical attention.

Is Rebel Crest Based on a true story?

No, but Saulnier's film is certainly not beyond reality.

“This film is not based on any particular incident, but elements of it could well have happened,” the director told Tudum. “I'm interested in examining corrupt systems – not so much how they are constructed, but how they persist.”

He added: “For this film, I wanted to find out how the rest of us respond to this [corrupt] systems, from corrupt politicians to the endless loop of a failed customer service call.”

Is there actually a civil seizure of assets?

Yes. Saulnier built the film around civil asset forfeiture to expose the “insane loophole in anti-drug legislation that allows law enforcement to confiscate the property of ordinary citizens without any evidence of criminal activity.”

According to Cornell Law School, civil forfeiture has its origins in English law and was popular both during Prohibition, when police seized the property of bootleggers to curb the production and sale of alcohol, and during the war on drugs in the 1980s.

Did Aaron Pierre perform his stunts himself in Rebel Crest?

Pierre, who has experience in boxing and martial arts, performed most of the stunts shown in the film.

“I didn't do everything, and I have to support and celebrate our amazing stunt team who helped bring this piece to life,” he told PEOPLE. “But I certainly didn't go a single day during filming without at least one bruise or bump or scratch or scrape or cut.”

Speaking to Netflix, Saulnier recalled the scene in which Terry drags Marston behind a parked car after being shot.

“We had a connection [David] just so Aaron wouldn't get exhausted after four or five takes, because David is a big guy, 6'4,” he said. “After we had a few takes in the can, Aaron asked us if he could really pull David by himself, without wires, and everyone agreed to try. That shows Aaron's dedication. And of course, that's the shot that made it into the film.”

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