Screenwriter Jeremy Saulnier's pulsating thriller “Ridge of Rebellion” is one of the best Netflix originals of the year, with critics and audiences alike responding to its exciting action set pieces, engaging characters, and engrossing twists It received a 95% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and is currently the #1 film on Netflix

Aaron Pierre plays Terry Richmond, a former Marine who is quickly turned against by the police when he tries to bail out his cousin in the Louisiana town of Shelby Springs Don Johnson gives an amusingly sneaky performance as the power-hungry police chief He comes to regret turning the resourceful and determined Terry against him

If you enjoyed the realistic action and fury of “Ridgeline of Treason,” here are five more movies that will give you the same type of thrill

Sylvester Stallone's first film as Vietnam War vet John Rambo is much more thoughtful and understated than its action-packed, over-the-top sequel Like Terry Richmond, Rambo is a brooding loner, who enters a small town and mind his own business, but is soon harassed by the local police Rambo travels to rural Washington to visit a friend he fought with in the war, and after learning that his friend has died, he moves to the ironically named town of Hope

Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy) immediately tries to run Rambo out of town and arrests him on fictitious charges when he refuses to comply The traumatized Rambo eventually snaps, and a brutal confrontation between the local cops and the burly warrior begins Although there are many depictions of violence, the film depicts Rambo's despair and anger rather than the glorified retribution of later films

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Saulnier's breakout film is another tense thriller about a somber man bent on revenge, but the protagonist, Dwight Evans (Macon Blair), is the opposite of the calm and capable Terry Richmond When Dwight learns that the man who killed his parents has been released from prison, he embarks on a disorderly vendetta

The violence in Blue Ruin is messy and intuitively unpleasant, and Saulnier sustains sickening suspense from the moment Dwight first attacks his target Taking down the man responsible for his family's misfortunes is only the first step in a nightmarish downward spiral The film is intense and nasty, but one can also find sympathy for the characters on both sides of the blood feud

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The police station siege in “Ridgeline of Treason” is only a small part of Terry's battle with the Shelby Springs Police Department, but it is reminiscent of John Carpenter's gritty thriller The handful of employees left to close the facility are ambushed by gang members and forced to team up with prisoners to fight off the attackers

Like Saulnier, Carpenter places his unprepared characters in untenable situations and then raises the stakes as he observes how they react to the constant threat As they fight back against a relentless, unstoppable foe, there is enough backstory to get a basic sense of who they are and to care what happens to them

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French filmmaker Julien Leclerc is a master of restrained, economical action, and in this thriller, a skilled lumber mill owner confronts a group of armed drug dealers Said (Sami Bouazira) has already been diagnosed with terminal cancer and plans to sell the sawmill he inherited from his late wife's father, but one of his employees inadvertently becomes the target of angry criminals who want to recover a stolen bag of cocaine

Saeed's first priority is the safety of his employees and teenage daughter, and when gangs converge on his land, he decides to single-handedly intercept them He turns his industrial facility into a giant death trap, weaponizing the machines against the invaders who constantly underestimate him Said becomes a quiet heroic figure, protecting his loved ones from those who would do them harm

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The righteous outsider taking on the corrupt leaders of a small town is a staple of the Western, and director Sam Raimi uses this solid plot structure as a visual homage to the genre Sharon Stone plays a nameless drifter who arrives in the frontier town of Redemption, where sadistic Mayor John Herode (Gene Hackman) rules with intimidation and fear

She teams up with Herod's eager son (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a pacifist former outlaw (Russell Crowe) to defeat Herod in a quick draw contest and end his reign of terror Stone brings a sledgehammering swagger to the role of the archetypical no-name gunman (a gunslinger), while Hackman plays the ruthless villain with diabolical menace Raimi's stylized approach enlivens the familiar Western plot, bringing energy and creativity to an overused storyline

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