Affleck and Damon lead Joe Carnahan’s Netflix thriller The Rip

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon star in The Rip, a Netflix crime thriller written and directed by Joe Carnahan that mostly unfolds over one night at a Miami stash house, Brandon Yu writes in his review.

The plot centers on a police squad that discovers a pyramid of orange tubs filled with dirty money amid the unsolved murder of its former captain. The film assembles familiar elements — a murdered captain, a stash of drug cash, a dead son, a fractured marriage, a cartel in the shadows and officers eyeing one another — and scores its tension with a propulsive synth-driven soundtrack.

Yu describes The Rip as a movie that often telegraphs the idea of entertainment rather than delivering it, likening it to a Netflix-ified Training Day with echoes of Bad Boys. He says Damon is the only cast member given enough room to navigate shifting dynamics, while others, including Kyle Chandler, Steven Yeun and Teyana Taylor, are underused.

The reviewer notes that apart from an opening flashback, the action takes place in a single night and that the film leans on its score and star turns more than on story structure or direction. The Rip is rated R, runs 2 hours 13 minutes, and is available to watch on Netflix, Yu reports.

Key Topics

Culture, The Rip, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Joe Carnahan, Netflix