When a group of cops receives a big tip about stashed money, loyalties shift, and everyone turns on one another.
Easily digestible, action-packed thriller. Writer/director Joe Carnahan does what he knows best. From Narc (2002) to Smokin’ Aces (2006) to Boss Level (2020), Copshop (2021), Carnahan has always thrived in controlled chaos, and here he delivers an action/thriller that understands momentum, suspicion, and the pleasure of watching trust erode in real time.
In a team that has known each other for years, familiarity turns into doubt and loyalty into leverage. No one is clean, no one is safe, and no one seems to be telling the whole truth. Whose money is it? Where did the tip come from? Who is making a move, and who is reacting too late? The film piles questions on top of one another, constantly shifting alliances and motivations, keeping the viewer guessing just long enough before pulling the rug again. The double-crosses, the last-minute reveals, the moral compromises – they’re all familiar, but they’re delivered with confidence and pacing that make them work.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reuniting on screen carries its own weight, and they prove – nearly four decades after their early beginnings – that their chemistry is still intact. Also, great performances by Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, Scott Adkins, and Kyle Chandler.
Nothing in Netflix’s The Rip is revolutionary. There’s no single scene that demands to be analysed to death, no thematic statement screaming for attention. Instead, the film offers something arguably rarer: competence. The build-up works, the action lands, the plot holds together, and the tension rarely drops, regardless of certain cliches.
It’s an easy watch in the best sense – ideal for a night in with your partner or your mates, where the twists spark conversation rather than confusion. The closing tribute to real-life Miami Police Department Captain Chris Casiano, whose investigation inspired the film and who lost his son to leukaemia in 2021, adds a quiet note of gravity that grounds the spectacle in something real.
Sometimes, delivering exactly what you promise is more than enough – and The Rip delivers.
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