The Rip review: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reunite in twisty crime thriller
It’s always nice to see childhood buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck together on-screen, and they usually pick good projects too. So it’s no surprise that their latest, The Rip, is very good.
This crime thriller follows the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) in Miami. Damon is Dane Dumars, who has recently been promoted to team leader following the death (or murder?) of Captain Jackie Velez. He receives a tip that there’s major drug money holed up in a cartel stash house, so he goes to check it out with his longtime buddy, Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Affleck), and Detectives Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor) and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno). He expects to find $300k in the house, but they end up uncovering more than $20 million!
That’s the kind of money that people will kill for, so they immediately know they’re in big trouble and that they need to count and move the money as quickly as possible. But somebody knows about the size of “the rip” and will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. Is it the drug cartel? The local police? Or a dirty cop within TNT? And did that person have something to do with Jackie’s murder? The film revolves around trying to answer all of these questions!
The story gets increasingly intense as the team members start to lose trust in each other and make accusations of corruption. Each member has a turn of looking suspicious – particularly Damon, he seemed scary at times! – and the twisty thriller keeps you guessing until it’s all revealed in the exciting finale. Well, actually, I was partially correct was one of my predictions and I felt quite proud of that!
Affleck’s JD has a chip on his shoulder and no problem questioning Dane’s authority and his handling of the rip. They’ve been friends for a long time so he feels like he can call out his decisions. Damon and Affleck’s natural platonic chemistry really feeds into their characters. But the film is a true ensemble and there is no weak link in the cast, which also includes Kyle Chandler as a DEA agent and Sasha Calle as the owner of the stash house, although none of the other actors get properly fleshed-out characters.
The Rip is a gripping, old-school thriller with plenty of twists and turns. Worth a watch.
Streaming on Netflix from Friday 16th January