THE RIP: A MUST WATCH?

Netflix’s latest blockbuster movie THE RIP stars Hollywood’s best duo Ben Affleck and Matt Damon a buddy cop thriller inspired by real life events. Following their narcotics team as they receive a tip about drug money in a stash house. The group go to bust up the house only to find out the money they find in way more than they expected. This eventually creates mistrust among team members, shifting loyalties and outside threats about a drug cartel who will do anything to make sure they do not lose their money. 

The Rip may sound like a simple action movie, but what makes it so interesting is how the story is presented to the audience. Knowing the underlying sub-plots of the movie makes you question the morality and motive of each character. Also, even though the cast is stacked, the actors do not phone it in at all. Everyone does their best to play their characters to perfection. Damon and Affleck are simply magic when sharing a set, Damon takes on a more sinister role in this movie, creating some really tense moments. Steven Yeung finally gets some flowers sharing the big screen with all these big names and does his best not to get overshadowed by them at all. And finally. the badass queen coming off a Golden Globes win, Teyana Taylor brings the much-needed charismatic energy to this otherwise tense action movie.

As great as it is, The Rip does have some flaws. Though the first and second act well perfectly executed, creating interest in the first and confusion and sustaining said interest and intrigue in the second, The Rip suffers from one of Hollywood’s most incessant plagues, The Third Act. After the plot twist reveal, The Rip does nothing interesting anymore. Instead, it dissolves into a mindless action sequence which was shot terribly half the time. Even through the second act, there were some action sequences shot terribly with shaky cameras to sell the chaos of the gunfight but that only served to blind the viewer from deciphering what was actually going on. That was excusable however merely due to the fact that it did not linger for long. In the third act however, it was very evident and problematic because the entire third act was an action sequence. More than half the time, you cannot tell who is winning a fight. It is only when the fight is over, do you really see who won.

My final major issue with the movie is how questionable some of the decisions these characters make. As mentioned earlier, there is a gunfight about midway through the movie, and these smart cops decide it is best for their lives to go out into the dark to meet the unknown number of assailants and kill them. It is only by sheer luck that they survived. I could nitpick a number of other things, but it is also important to remember at the end of the day a movie is only meant to entertain us and sometimes educate us. To overanalyze and overthink certain things would be unhealthy.

Final verdict: Is The Rip worth watching? Yes. Absolutely. It has Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. You can never go wrong with those two. If you want to test that theory watch AIR (2023) or GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997). The plot is gripping, the characters are charismatic and in a movie that feels short, despite its nearly runtime, most of the characters are well fleshed out so much so that you care enough for them, and you understand their motives. Overall, I will give The Rip 75% rating.

TITLE: THE RIP (2026)

RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 16TH, 2026

RUNTIME: 112 minutes

DIRECTED BY JOE CARNAHAN

WHERE TO WATCH: NETFLIX

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