‘Rebel Ridge’ Ending Explained: Why Do the Cops Switch Sides in the New Netflix Movie?

Rebel Ridge on Netflix is a one of those action movies that feels simple, but in fact, it is quite complicated. It’s called good writing!

Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, Rebel Ridge stars Aaron Pierre as an ex-marine named Terry, who takes on small-town cops after they unjustly seize Terry’s cash, intended to bail out his cousin from jail. In his quest to recover his personal property, Terry blows open a corruption conspiracy that dates back decades. As it turns out, corruption conspiracies are complicated!

Saulnier—who is also known for directing thrillers like Hold the Dark, Green Room, Blue Ruin—manages to make it all make sense in the end, and he manages it in a 2 hour and 11-minute runtime, no less. That said, because no one wants an action movie bogged down with technical dialogue, sometimes the movie moves a little too fast. That’s especially true for the Rebel Ridge ending—if you’re not paying attention, you’re going to get lost.

Never fear, because Decider is here to help. Read on for a breakdown of the Rebel Ridge movie plot summary and the Rebel Ridge movie ending explained, including why the cops switch sides at the end of Rebel Ridge.

Warning: Rebel Ridge spoilers ahead. Duh!

Rebel Ridge movie plot summary:

We meet our protagonist, Terry Richmond (Pierre), as he’s biking down an empty road, with metal music blasting in his headphones. Because of this, he doesn’t hear the police siren behind him. The cop drives closer and closer to Terry until the car hits the back of the bike, sending Terry flying into the dirt. Officers Evan Marston (David Denman) and Steve Lann (Emory Cohen) offer no remorse for hitting Terry, and claim he matches the suspect description for a reported stolen bike.

They search Terry and discover a large sum—$30,000—of cash in his backpack. Terry explains the money is to post bail for his cousin, who is being held at the Shelby Springs local jail and will be transferred to a state prison if he doesn’t get to the courthouse with the money by 5pm. Despite the fact that Terry’s bike turns out not to be the stolen bike, the cops still seize Terry’s cash. They claim they’ve concluded from their investigation that the money is drug currency, and that they therefore have a legal right to claim it. They let Terry go, without his money.

At the Shelby Springs courthouse, Terry explains what happened. A court clerk named Summer (AnnaSophia Robb) takes pity on him. She explains to Terry the concept of “civil asset forfeiture,” a law that is supposed to help the fight against drug cartels. But Summer hints that the cops in the town are corrupt, and using the money seized for themselves. Terry explains that his cousin has enemies in the state prison, and will be killed if he’s transferred there.

Terry tries reporting the robbery to the cops, and is threatened by the Sheriff (Don Johnson) to back off. Terry tries to make a deal: If he can just get $10,000 to bail out his cousin, he’ll let the cops keep the rest of the money, and won’t go to court to get it back. The Sheriff seemingly agrees to this deal, and tells Terry to return at 9 a.m. on Monday morning, where they will have his cousin. When Terry arrives on Monday at 9:03, his cousin is already being transferred to the state prison. Terry realizes the sheriff never intended to honor the deal.

At this point, the police realize that Terry is not only an ex-marine, he was a teacher in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. Translation: He’s a badass. Using brute force, Terry disarms two cops and takes the Sheriff hostage. He restrains them in the police station, and retrieves his cash from evidence. In the evidence room, he sees a lot more cash and weapons that have also been seized from civilians. Terry takes only $10k from his cash, and leaves the rest at the station—still honoring his end of the deal.

Terry gets the cash to the courthouse. Summer rushes to post the bail. It’s not clear if it goes through or not, before cops come in and arrest Terry. But rather than charging him, the Sheriff tells Terry his cousin was attacked in the state prison and will likely die. The Sheriff offers him a new truck to go away quietly, tells Terry to leave town, and warns that if he ever comes back, there’ll be trouble. Terry’s cousin dies, and Terry leaves town as instructed… but then he gets a call from Summer.

Summer, a former drug addict, was forcibly injected with heroin in her home, as punishment for helping Terry and as a warning to stop sniffing around. Not knowing who to call, she calls Terry for help. He returns to town to help her recover, and she reveals she lost custody of her daughter, and needs the courthouse job if she ever wants to see her child again. Both Terry and Summer agree to let this all drop. But on Terry’s way out of town, he’s pulled over by Officer Steve Lann. Terry notes that Steve didn’t turn on his police lights, and the cop replies it’s because turning on the lights activates the dash camera—he intends to shoot and kill Terry.

Terry manages to escape. Meanwhile, Summer is fired from her job when an impromptu drug test shows she’s been using. With little left to lose, Terry and Summer decide they will expose the corruption conspiracy and bring these cops to justice.

Summer reveals she has a “good cop” friend at the police precinct who might be willing to help them take down the department. She doesn’t say who, but Terry assumes it’s the friendly Black woman officer, and dubs her codename, “Serpico.” Summer and Terry pay a visit to Summer’s friend the judge, who explains that, basically, the thing that happened to Terry at the beginning of the movie was no accident. The Shelby Springs police force has been arresting civilians for misdemeanors and then posting extremely high bails, assuring that friends and family will come to the town with large sums of cash. Then the police arrest those people, seize their cash using the “civil asset forfeiture” law, and use that cash to fund the department. It keeps the police funded and the taxes low.

Because many of these misdemeanor arrests are aggressive and questionable, the cops don’t want anyone to get their hands on the dash cam footage. Luckily, the cops only have to have the footage available for 90s days after the arrest, and then they can destroy it. However, there are some dash cam videos on a hard drive at the courthouse, that the police can’t access on their own. Those hard drives contain the evidence that can bring down the department.

Rebel Ridge ending explained:

Summer and Terry break into the courthouse and retrieve both hard drives and SD cards of dash cam footage. However, Summer gets captured by an officer. Terry tells the police he will exchange the SD cards for Summer’s safe return—but he tricks them. Instead of going to the drop-off point, he goes to the station. He incapacitates the Sheriff, and gives the SD cards to Officer Jessica Sims (Zsane Jhe), whom he believes is “Serpico,” and on his side. He tells her to release the footage after he’s arrested.

However, it turns out Officer Jessica Sims is not Serpico. She turns on Terry. The SD cards are destroyed, and Terry is surrounded by armed cops, about to die. Then one of the officers from the opening scene, Officer Evan, steps forward and says they shouldn’t kill Terry, but follow the rule of law. It turns out Evan is Serpico, not Jessica! The Sheriff shoots officer Evan, and all hell breaks loose.

In the chaotic fight that follows, Even tells Terry to turn on the police lights in his cruiser, to activate the dash cam. The cameras start recording three minutes prior, which means they now have dash cam footage of the Sheriff shooting one of his own officers. Terry, Evan, and Summer all flee in the police car toward a hospital, with the rest of the police hot on his tail.

During the movie’s big car chase, it seems like the good guys are about to lose. One of Terry’s tires is shot, and the cops quickly catch up. But then, Officer Jessica turns out to be a good guy, after all. She rams the Sheriff’s car off the road, and puts the Sheriff under arrest. Terry’s car is allowed to keep driving. Instead of chasing him down, the remaining officers provide a police escort to the hospital. Terry carries a drugged-out AnnaSophia Robb into the hospital, retrieves the dash cam footage from the car, and the movie ends.

Why do the cops give Terry a police escort at the end of Rebel Ridge?

It all happens very quickly, but I believe we are meant to assume that the remaining police cars, like Officer Jessica, decided to change sides at the last minute. After Jessica rams the Sheriff, another cop says on the radio, “You got the chief?” Jessica replies, “Affirmative.”

It’s clear that while the Sheriff was taken off-guard, the other cops had conspired with Jessica to betray the chief. Why? My guess is that the remaining cops realized that with an investigation done by an outside police force—which seems likely to happen, given the way this has snowballed—all the unsavory evidence and corruption they are trying to cover up will come to light. In order to spare themselves, they decided to switch sides and let the Sheriff take the fall, instead.

Or maybe some of those cops suddenly grew a moral backbone. Either way, now that Terry has footage of the Sheriff shooting his own officer in cold blood, we can assume that the Sheriff will be taken down, and that the Shelby Springs police force will finally be rid of corruption. Whether Terry will be arrested for his many crimes is left up in the air. But at least he made it out alive!