They grew up next door to each other in the university town of Cambridge near Boston, Massachusetts – and were interested in films from an early age. So the teenage friends ended up at a casting agency, which cast them as two of a total of 3,000 extras for a baseball game in Boston's Fenway Park for the Kevin Costner cult film “Field of Dreams” (1989). It was the beginning of the Hollywood career of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who not only immediately won an Oscar for their original screenplay for “Good Will Hunting” (1997), but also appeared in front of the camera together more than a dozen times. Including “Air: The Big Thing”, the first film from her production company Artists Equity, which was founded in November 2022.
Her company was now also involved in a cop thriller made together with Netflix, which – according to director and screenwriter Joe Carnahan (“Shadow Force”) – is based on the personal experiences of a drug detective from Miami Dade County. The dark look and the grim production create a strong atmosphere and a high level of tension – at least in the first half – but the action scenes in “The Rip” (in police jargon, the confiscation of cash, drugs or weapons from criminals) are surprisingly unimaginative.
Best buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, as always, have great chemistry together.
Corruption is commonplace in the Miami Police Department and especially in the drug squad. After the murder of Captain Jackie Velez (Lina Esco), the investigations within our own ranks are in full swing. Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) and Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Ben Affleck) suspected. Based on a tip, Dane, JD and three other colleagues went out after work on Friday to a house in a residential area just outside Miami where a low six-figure amount of money from a cartel was supposed to be confiscated.
On site, the unsuspecting Desi (Sasha Calle) opens the door and the investigators secure the gigantic sum of around 20 million US dollars, which still has to be counted precisely on site. At least that's what the regulations say. But other cops quickly get wind of the surprise find – and they may have other interests than getting the sum as safely and completely into the evidence room as possible.
Corrupt, more corrupt, police
The police as a self-destructive bunch consumed by corruption – Joe Carnahan visually underlines this gloomy worldview from the beginning. Cameraman Juanmi Azpiroz, who also worked with the director on “Boss Level,” delivers heavily darkened images: interrogations are expertly cut back and forth between the various suspects, which smoothly transition into physical confrontations. Even during the operation in the dimly lit Stash House, aggression, mistrust and the temptation of large bills determine the dialogue. Dane and JD want to collect their colleagues' cell phones in order to prevent external communication.
Just a precautionary measure? Or maybe they want to grab the money themselves? For a long time, “The Rip” fails to answer the question of who is corrupt here and who is not – which works excellently as a tension driver in the first half of the film. As the events continue, however, they soon shift to the street – and quickly lose their depressing atmosphere and intensity. The previously cleverly kept secret is resolved through various flashbacks – and two parallel chases take place, which almost seem dutiful and therefore lack real tension.
Given the huge amount of money, no one within the police quickly trusts anyone anymore…
Even if Carnahan said he had a cop thriller in the spirit of “Serpico” or “Heat” in mind: powerful, pounding beats and quick cuts suggest dynamism, but the bottom line is that this rather unimaginatively scaled-down action showdown without any real sophistication is pretty poor. It is significant that martial arts icon Scott Adkins (“John Wickel: Chapter 4”) embodies one of the FBI investigators involved (and JD's cold brother), but is still not allowed to take part in a single really developed action scene – and so remains physically underchallenged.
After all: Matt Damon, who acts rather cleverly as JD, and Ben Affleck as his short-tempered hothead partner deliver a solid performance as an unlikely pair of colleagues. Even if they repeatedly fight out their differences verbally and physically, there is still good chemistry between the two Hollywood buddies, even after more than 35 years of screen careers often spent together.
Conclusion: Immersed in dark images, the first half of “The Rip” is convincing as a cleverly condensed and hard-hitting thriller about betrayal, mistrust and corruption in the ranks of law enforcement. Although Matt Damon and Ben Affleck clearly have fun with their unusually dubious roles, the more action-packed and less suspenseful second half lacks class and ideas.