One month into production, Jeremy Saulnier's new Netflix movie "Rebel Ridge" lost its star. Saulnier, who broke out in a big way with his second feature "Blue Ruin" and followed it up with the equally memorable "Green Room," had cast "Star Wars" actor John Boyega as the lead of his new action thriller. But then Boyega left the production, citing family reasons. It seemed like a devastating blow: Boyega is an extremely talented actor, and the prospect of him working with a filmmaker like Saulnier was exciting. But now that "Rebel Ridge" is finally here, I can say that things worked out perfectly for the film, because Boyega's replacement, Aaron Pierre, is a movie star in the making. Pierre has appeared in Barry Jenkins' acclaimed Prime Video series "The Underground Railroad," and had a brief but memorable turn as rapper Mid-Sized Sedan in M. Night Shyamalan's deliciously silly thriller "Old," but "Rebel Ridge" feels like the movie that will launch him into the stratosphere. He's electric here, commanding the screen with a tense physicalicity and a magnetic presence. We can't take our eyes off this guy; every move he makes has our attention.

The only potential wrench in this star-making performance is the fact that "Rebel Ridge" is destined to go right to Netflix instead of theaters. It has been said that we don't really have movie stars anymore, not in the old fashioned sense at least, and I think the fact that so many movies get dumped onto streaming these days has something to do with that. You can't help but think that if "Rebel Ridge" had come out more than a decade ago, and played in movie theaters across the country, Pierre would blow up in a big way. I can only hope "Rebel Ridge" doesn't fall victim to Netflix's dreaded algorithm and get lost in the shuffle, because this baby deserves an audience. Saulnier, who specializes in movies about how violence begets violence, has crafted a meticulously engaging action thriller that builds, and builds, and builds. The first hour in particular is among one of the finest things Saulnier has created: a tense, fat-free, no-nonsense chain of events that draw us deeper and deeper into a story of one man with a particular set of skills pushed to the edge.

In press notes for the film, Saulnier speaks of "Rebel Ridge" as a throwback. "As a filmmaker, I dig grounded '80s and '90s action films that not only deliver on spectacle, but succeed in tying on-screen mayhem to a real and true emotional component," the director said. "Smaller scale, bigger impact. Less veneer, less artificiality. They're rooted in a 'kick up the dust' level of craft and authenticity that I don't see often in the current space, and I was interested in making a film more like that." It will be easy to compare "Rebel Ridge," which is ultimately about a military man facing off against villainous cops, to the original "Rambo" film, "First Blood." There are also shades of the first season of Prime Video's hit series "Reacher," as well as every Western you can think of about a mysterious gunslinger who rides into a small town and bucks up against the law. But Saulnier isn't being derivative. He's putting his own unique spin on this sort of story, and the results are killer.