The Rip, directed and written by Joe Carnahan, arrives on Netflix January 16, 2026, bringing together Hollywood's most famous best friends, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, in a tense crime thriller that feels refreshingly old-school. Produced by Artists Equity and Netflix, this action-packed drama reunites the Oscar-winning duo in roles that play brilliantly off their real-life friendship, creating an authentic chemistry that elevates what could have been just another corrupt cop story into something far more compelling.
Set in Miami's underbelly, the film follows Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) and Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Affleck) as members of the Tactical Narcotics Team who stumble upon twenty million dollars in cartel money during a routine seizure. What begins as a straightforward operation quickly spirals into a pressure-cooker situation where trust evaporates, loyalties fracture, and everyone becomes a potential suspect. The supporting cast includes Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, Scott Adkins, Kyle Chandler, and Nestor Carbonell, all bringing depth to this morally complex narrative. Running 112 minutes, this thriller blends elements of mystery, siege drama, and character study into an entertaining package that stands well above typical streaming fare.
Story and Screenplay: A Tight Premise That Occasionally Overcomplicates Itself
Carnahan crafts a scenario that immediately hooks you. The setup is deceptively simple: cops find money, cops must decide what to do with it before everyone from cartels to corrupt colleagues comes hunting. What makes the screenplay work is how it layers paranoia and mistrust over this foundation. The murder of Captain Jackie Velez in the opening sequence casts a shadow over everything that follows, making you question whether the real threat comes from outside or within the team itself.
The script moves with impressive velocity, introducing complications and reversals at a pace that demands your full attention. Carnahan doesn't hold your hand through exposition dumps. Instead, he trusts viewers to piece together motivations, connections, and betrayals from fragmented interrogation scenes and carefully placed visual cues. This approach creates genuine engagement as you actively work to solve the puzzle alongside the characters.
However, this same ambition occasionally becomes a liability. The screenplay sometimes piles on one twist too many, straining credibility as it races toward its climax. While most revelations land effectively and recontextualize earlier scenes in satisfying ways, a few feel engineered more for shock value than organic story progression. The ending, though it contains some genuinely surprising moments, takes a bit too long to wrap everything up, losing some of the momentum built throughout the taut middle section.
The thematic exploration of corruption and moral compromise works best when it stays grounded in character rather than making broad statements. Carnahan wisely avoids preaching, instead presenting these cops as people ground down by bureaucracy, inadequate pay, and personal tragedies who face an impossible temptation. The question isn't whether they're good or bad, but rather how far circumstances can push basically decent people toward unthinkable choices.
Acting and Characters: Real Chemistry Elevates Familiar Archetypes
The decision to cast Damon and Affleck pays dividends beyond mere star power. Their decades-long friendship translates into a believable history between Dane and JD that makes their eventual suspicion of each other genuinely uncomfortable to watch. Damon plays Dane with a weary stillness, a man hollowed out by the recent death of his young son from cancer. He's all controlled surfaces, making it impossible to read whether his calm is genuine or calculated. It's a more restrained performance than Damon typically delivers in action films, and it works beautifully.
Affleck matches him with the opposite energy. His JD is volatile, aggressive, quick to throw punches whether the opponent is a federal agent or his own brother. Yet beneath the bluster, Affleck shows us a man desperately clinging to a code of honor in a world that seems designed to punish such idealism. When these two clash, you feel the weight of their shared past making every accusation cut deeper.
The supporting ensemble makes strong impressions despite less screen time. Steven Yeun brings nervous energy to Detective Mike Ro, creating a character whose apparent anxiety could indicate either innocence or guilt. Catalina Sandino Moreno gives Detective Lolo Salazar a pragmatic edge, a single mother whose financial pressures make the temptation viscerally real rather than abstract. Teyana Taylor, fresh off her Golden Globe win, brings swagger and complexity to Detective Numa Baptiste, though the script doesn't give her quite enough to do.
Sasha Calle delivers subtle, intelligent work as Desi, the young woman caught in this nightmare who may know far more than she initially reveals. She navigates the tricky balance between vulnerability and calculation with skill, keeping both the characters and audience guessing about her true involvement. Kyle Chandler brings his trademark affable menace to DEA Agent Matty Nix, while Scott Adkins gets surprisingly good mileage from his role as JD's federal agent brother, especially in their physical confrontation that provides both tension and dark humor.
Direction and Technical Aspects: Gritty Craftsmanship Serving the Story
Joe Carnahan demonstrates why he's developed a reputation for muscular, no-nonsense genre filmmaking. His direction here echoes his earlier work on Narc, favoring close-quarters intensity over flashy spectacle. The camera stays intimate with the characters, often positioned claustrophobically close during confrontations and chases, putting us directly into their frazzled headspace.
The cinematography by Juan Miguel Azpiroz deserves special mention for avoiding the overly polished Netflix aesthetic that can make streaming originals feel sterile. The film has grit and texture, with Miami nights rendered in metallic blues and shadowy blacks that create an atmosphere of dread. The production design turns an ordinary suburban cul-de-sac into something genuinely menacing, while the interior of the stash house becomes increasingly oppressive as the walls literally and figuratively close in.
Carnahan's action sequences prioritize clarity over chaos. When gunfire erupts, you always understand spatial relationships and tactical decisions. The violence feels weighty and consequential rather than cartoonish. A standout sequence inside a cramped armored DEA carrier demonstrates Carnahan's ability to stage coherent action in confined spaces where every movement matters.
The editing maintains propulsive momentum through the investigation and buildup, intercutting between different locations and timeframes in ways that enhance mystery rather than confuse. Only in the final act does the pace occasionally stumble, as the film struggles to service all its plot threads and character arcs simultaneously.
Music and Atmosphere: Synthesizers and Dread
Clinton Shorter's synthesizer-heavy score clearly draws inspiration from Michael Mann's crime classics, particularly Thief and Heat. The pulsing electronic soundscape creates persistent unease, a ticking clock made audible that keeps tension high even during dialogue-heavy scenes. While derivative, the approach fits the material perfectly, lending a retro cool that complements the film's throwback sensibilities.
Sound design deserves credit for making the silence between gunshots as effective as the explosions themselves. The cacophony of money-counting machines, hushed phone conversations, and distant sirens builds an audio landscape thick with paranoia. When violence erupts, it's startlingly loud and chaotic, making you flinch in ways that overly stylized action rarely achieves.
The overall atmosphere Carnahan creates is one of pervasive distrust. Even scenes of apparent camaraderie feel loaded with unspoken tensions. The oppressive Florida humidity seems to seep through the screen, with characters perpetually sweating under pressure both literal and figurative. It's a world where institutions are corrupt, friendships are fragile, and money corrupts absolutely.
Trailer The Rip (2026)
Strengths and Weaknesses
What Works:
- Damon and Affleck's chemistry creates authentic emotional stakes
- Tense, well-constructed setup that hooks you immediately
- Strong ensemble cast with no weak links
- Gritty cinematography that avoids streaming movie blandness
- Smart use of confined spaces to heighten claustrophobia
- Effective mystery elements that keep you guessing
- Action sequences that prioritize coherence over spectacle
- Themes of corruption explored through character rather than preaching
What Doesn't Work:
- Final act overstays its welcome with too many endings
- Some twists feel engineered rather than organic
- Occasional lapses in credibility as complications pile up
- A few supporting characters disappear for long stretches
- Dialogue sometimes leans too heavily on tough-guy cliches
- Dark cinematography occasionally makes action hard to parse
- Script gets muddy when juggling all its moving parts simultaneously
Final Verdict: A Satisfying Throwback That Delivers the Goods
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
The Rip represents the kind of muscular, character-driven crime thriller that studios used to produce regularly but now feels almost quaint in its workmanlike professionalism. It's not trying to reinvent the genre or make grand artistic statements. Instead, Carnahan has crafted a taut, suspenseful entertainment that respects its audience's intelligence while delivering the action and intrigue promised by its premise.
Film enthusiasts who appreciate tightly constructed mysteries will find plenty to enjoy here, particularly in how the script plants clues and pays them off. Fans of Damon and Affleck's previous collaborations get to see them work together in ways that feel fresh while capitalizing on their established rapport. If you enjoyed Carnahan's earlier films like Narc or appreciate the moral ambiguity of classic corrupt cop dramas, this hits similar notes with confidence and skill.
That said, viewers seeking innovative storytelling or profound thematic depth should adjust expectations accordingly. The Rip knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be and executes that vision with competence rather than transcending it. Those who prefer their action films more stylized and kinetic might find the procedural elements slow, while audiences allergic to cop-centric narratives won't find much here to change their minds about the genre.
Ultimately, The Rip succeeds as a well-crafted genre piece elevated by strong performances and smart direction. It's the kind of film you can imagine playing on cable television in fifteen years, still holding up because it prioritizes fundamental storytelling over trendy gimmicks. In an era where streaming originals often feel disposable, Carnahan has delivered something sturdy and satisfying. It may not be groundbreaking cinema, but it's thoroughly entertaining filmmaking that reminds you why Damon and Affleck remain one of Hollywood's most compelling partnerships. For a cold January evening, you could do far worse than letting this tense thriller rip.
 Movie Review: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck Deliver a Gritty, Suspenseful Thriller That Keeps You Guessing Until the Final Frame){kind=link}
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