F-bombs blazing, bad facial hair abounding, The Rip tries so hard to be hard that it tries one’s patience. And yet, writer/director Joe Carnahan’s surprisingly claustrophobic thriller is so lean in its quest to be mean that it manages to steal a sizable stash of satisfaction.
All of this is to say, if you’re even mildly inclined to watch a movie about a bearded Ben Affleck and a goateed Matt Damon playing “who is the dirtiest cop?” you are likely to get the precise amount of entertainment you expected and not a stolen cent more. Honestly, take note, Netflix: This is exactly the sort of at-home cinema that you should be making. More on that later.
Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) runs a Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) out of Florida, where many things are likely named after explosives. Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne (Affleck) is presumably the squad’s bad boy, given his propensity to sit on chairs backwards. They work with Detective Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), Detective Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno), and Detective Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), who is not named after TV host Mike Rowe but does find himself in the middle of dirty job.
You see, some dirty cops are doing dirty things that involve millions of dollars in dirty money that the TNT gang finds at a dirty stash house monitored by a fairly clean woman named Desi (Sasha Calle). As the vice between drug cartels and evil police squeezes ever tighter, the questions are “Who can be trusted?” and “Who let Kyle Chandler wear his hair like that?”
The double crosses in The Rip are so nakedly telegraphed that it seems to verify the worst horror stories of Netflix insisting on the “two-screen” rule. This states that all of its shows and movies must be presented with the knowledge that people are only half paying attention. Paying full attention here does feel like overspending. But the cast is having such a great time doing what is essentially a retelling of The Departed on Drunk History that it is easy to justify the splurge.
What gets lost oftentimes in the roiling, raging, never-endingly annoying debate about movie theaters versus streaming is the abundant room for both to thrive. The middle ground is for suckers. However, figuring out what cinema works “better” when watched at home versus with an audience of strangers remains inexplicably elusive.
The Rip is the epitome of home entertainment. It is, let’s be generous, and say “intimate.” The limited, closed-space action weirdly works better on the small screen. It doesn’t pretend to be more than it is. Undoubtedly, the filmmakers and performers would disagree, but it genuinely feels like one of the few Netflix originals that understood the proverbial assignment, as cursed as that phrase may be.
The Rip is a movie you can recommend to your dad. It is oddly comforting in its narrative familiarity. It is spending time with your old friends, Ben and Matt, who love smoking, staring, and swearing. What else are you going to do, see your actual friends in real life?
Grade = B
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Roxana Hadidi at NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour says “I really adore Ben Affleck in this mode. I have to say that he is introduced wearing a track jacket, a gold chain necklace, smoking a cigarette and wearing a double-gun shoulder holster. This man so badly wishes that he were in Eastern Promises.”
Linda Marric at HeyUGuys says “The Rip is a solid cop thriller, it’s gripping, well-acted and quite enjoyable to watch, even if it isn’t exactly groundbreaking. For fans of Damon, Affleck or smartly made crime dramas, it’s an easy recommendation.”
Ruth Maramis at FlixChatter Film Blog says “All in all, The Rip is definitely worth checking out and can make for a fun Netflix-and-Chill night. While Carnahan’s writing and direction aren’t always firing on all cylinders, it does hit the mark at times. This noir thriller fits the trend of January releases in that it’s enjoyable but ultimately somewhat forgettable.”