January 19, 2026
In police parlance, a "rip" is a raid on a criminal hideout where the cops recover stolen goods, including drugs and cash. This new star-studded Netflix film written and directed by Joe Carnahan tells about a grand rip, where the cops raid a house where criminals have stashed upwards of $20 million in cash. The enormity of the loot raised countless red flags and doubts among the members of the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) that did the raid.
Lt. Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) was promoted to lead the TNT of the Miami Police when former leader Capt. Jackie Velez was murdered. Based on a tip, Dumars led his team -- Sgt. JD Byrne (Ben Affleck), Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno) -- to raid a certain house where a major stash of cash was hidden. A girl named Desi (Sasha Calle) who lived there denied knowing anything.
The main draw of this film was admittedly its two lead actors -- Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. We all know they were best friends since childhood in real life, who started their film careers together as extras in "Field of Dreams" (1989). By 1997, they both won Oscars for a screenplay they wrote together -- "Good Will Hunting," and the rest, as they say, was history. Whether as leads or cameos, "The Rip" is now the 13th film they were on screen together.
The supporting cast here also had Oscar pedigrees. Steven Yeun had been nominated as Best Actor in "MInari" (2020). Catalina Sandino Moreno had been nominated as Best Actress in "Maria Full of Grace" (2004). Teyana Taylor is just waiting for her nomination (and likely win) this year for "Another Battle After Another" (2025). Their ensemble work as cops grappling with moral issues in the face of the blinding lure of millions in cash was topnotch.
It was riveting to watch Damon and Affleck play flawed characters who lose trust in each other while doing a job where trust was essential. They clearly trusted each other as actors as their strong chemistry held the twisty cross and double-cross story together. Despite some questionable plot points, Carnahan's script and direction effectively steeped the cops' team dynamics in pervasive paranoia that also kept viewers hanging on to the very end. 7/10
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