When it comes to police lingo, the term “RIP” has several different meanings. The most common definition of the word is “reduction in pay” where a police officer’s pay is reduced following disciplinary action. The less commonly known definition is far more dirty. Under the disguise of a raid, police illegally seize money, drugs, and other valuable assets from criminals for their own profits. This latter definition is the heart of Joe Carnahan’s latest crime thriller The Rip. Reuniting Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for a distinctly dad-coded police thriller, the film starts strong before ultimately tripping over itself in the final act.
After the murder of police Captain Jackie Velez (Lina Esco, Cane), her entire team is under suspicion of corruption. Her team, the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT), is a team that specializes in the seizure of drugs, money, and other valuable goods from the drug cartels, which has a long history of attracting crooked cops. During the investigation, Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon, The Departed) and Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Ben Affleck, Gone Girl), receive an anonymous tip of a drug house in the heart of Miami. However, this tip is more than they realize as they discover a stash of 20 million in cash, which leads TNT to fall into paranoia as they try to figure out who the rat is before others find out about the cash.
The Rip surprisingly catched me off guard in its opening hour. Joe Carnahan crafted a tense, suffocating police thriller as we are locked into a pressure-cooker scenario that thrives on the paranoia and mistrust between the police officers. The discovery of the cash instantly destabilizes this once-tight unit as they are thrown into a dangerous game of 3-dimensional chest as they try to identify the rat in their ranks. Trapped inside a grimy cartel stash-house, fear and paranoia begins to take over as the team realizes that the $20 million stash won’t stay hidden for long. Surrounded by the Columbian Cartel, their rivals, and their own police department, the walls start closing in fast on this small unit. While the film doesn’t keep its cards close to the chest when it comes to hinting who the rat is, the mystery remains compelling thanks to the committed performances and Carnahan’s strong direction. Unfortunately, that tension evaporates the moment the story leaves the house which sadly takes much of the film’s momentum with it.
In a Scooby-Doo style exposition dump that Netflix has sadly perfected for a phone addicted mind, the film spoon-feeds the entire mystery of its narrative in under five-minutes. Every element in the film comes to a grinding halt. The claustrophobic tension evaporates, the intrigue collapses, and whatever momentum the film had built is completely squandered. From that point on there are no thrills, no suspense and no real stakes for the film. By the time the final shootout rolled around on the desolate highways of Miami, I found myself laughing at the sheer stupidity of the spectacle unfolding on my TV. When the credits began to roll, I wasn’t thinking about the spectacle, but I was mourning what this film could have been.
But with that stated, is The Rip still entertaining? Absolutely. The Rip is the purest form of dad-coded action programming. It’s blunt, sweaty, and completely unconcerned with subtlety. Even as the film collapses under the weight of its final act, everything leading up to that collapse is genuinely fun. It blended mystery with the hard-edge of police thrillers. Carnahan understands this dad-coded style of programming which is enough to carry the film forward. While The Rip may ultimately fumbles its own potential, the film still remains an enjoyably disposable genre exercise.
My Rating: B-
The Rip is now streaming on Netflix.
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