Affleck and Damon head Netflix action thriller The Rip

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon star in The Rip, a flashy, action-heavy thriller directed by Joe Carnahan that is available on Netflix on 16 January.

The film reportedly had a budget close to $100m, and the streamer briefly agreed to change its pay structure to allow Affleck and Damon to bring their Artists Equity profit-sharing rule, under which cast and crew receive bonuses if the film performs well. Carnahan developed the project with TV writer Michael McGrale.

Inspired by alleged true events, the plot centers on a stashed sum—called a “rip”—tipped to a group of Miami officers led by Damon’s Dane and Affleck’s JD. The team, which includes Teyana Taylor, Steven Yeun and Catalina Sandino Moreno, descends on a suburban house and, led by an excitable money-sniffing dog, finds more than $20m hidden in the attic. Sasha Calle plays the young woman living in the house.

The Guardian review described Carnahan as a brash, unsubtle director who delivers wall-to-wall action and called the film a propulsive piece of macho pulp. The review said the mystery is over-unfolded, that female characters are sidelined, and that Damon and Affleck bring humanity to underwritten backstories, adding the reviewer would have preferred to see the film on the big screen.

Key Topics

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