That most rare of animals: a Netflix movie that is not only surprisingly good, but also features cops as heroes — well, most of them, at least.
Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) and Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne (Ben Affleck) are members of a special anti-drug unit of the Miami police whose captain was recently murdered . While trying to investigate what happened to their leader, they receive a tip of a stash of dirty money kept in a inconspicuous house in the suburbs. When they and three more cops get there, they find an apparently innocent girl, Desi Lopez (Sasha Calle, one of the few bright spots in the otherwise terrible The Flash) and 20 million dollars in cash, hidden by drug dealers.
That is when the tensions start. At first, Dumars refuses to follow the standard procedure of this kind of situation, which makes the other officers think he may be intent on taking the money for himself. Soon, the cops realize that the drug dealers already know they are in the house and that there are some suspicious cops around, keeping an eye on our heroes. That is, if they are really heroes, since all five cops inside the house seem to have their own designs on the fortune and it is obvious they don’t trust each other. To make things worse, soon they come under heavy fire and have, as only possible ally, DEA agent Matt Nix (Kyle Chandler, star of the upcoming Lanterns TV show), that has an armored vehicle at his disposal.
Director and co-screenwriter Joe Carnahan is a very efficient helmer, responsible for some solid crime yarns as Narc (2002) and Smokin’ Aces (2006). Here, he delivers a very gripping thriller, with plenty of action and well-written characters. There are plot twists aplenty, with a very satisfying finale, and the movie also takes good advantage of the talent and charisma of Damon and Affleck, two longtime collaborators who have worked together on several previous projects
In a recent interview with Joe Rogan, the duo of stars (also producers) revealed that Netflix encourages that all productions destined for its streaming platform should, if possible, insert in the screenplay scenes and dialogues that remind the viewer what is the plot and what is happening at least four times. This made me a little suspicious of The Rip, as I expected that the movie would follow these directives. But, apparently, Carnahan, Damon and Affleck decided to respect the public and made the movie for people who are paying attention to the TV and not scrolling through their phones.
Maybe there is still hope for commercial movies… and perhaps even for streaming products.
The Rip (2026, Netflix)
Starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Kyle Chandler, Sasha Calle
Directed by Joe Carnahan
113 minutes
Rating: 9 Nerds (of 10) 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
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