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There aren’t many good movies I’ve watched at home that I wouldn’t have preferred to see in a theater. For the bad ones, the perverse pride at not having gone through all the effort of buying a ticket and leaving the house is a saving grace of sorts. But anything enjoyable, whether new or old, surely would’ve been more so with a bigger screen and a better sound system. Except, there’s a certain kind of genre film that just feels right for streaming. Netflix’s The RIP is one of them.
These movies are, first and foremost, vibes-based. They don’t use genre as a vehicle to tell their story, but their story as a vehicle to channel a genre – every tool at their disposal is put toward creating the feeling of watching a certain, familiar kind of movie. The joy of them isn’t getting caught up in the plot, or attached to the characters, or engaged by the themes. It’s sinking into that feeling for a couple of hours, and letting the current carry you where it may.
Though based on a true story, writer-director Joe Carnahan’s The Rip is really adapting «the cop thriller,» to entirely enjoyable results. It’s not as smart as it sometimes wants to be, or as thrilling as it could have been. But thanks to a potent mix of casting, atmosphere, and a touch of winking absurdity, it’s all you really need a streaming movie to be: a good hang.
Matt Damon & Ben Affleck Are The Rip's Greatest Asset
The Rip‘s compelling premise is set up a bit strangely. The film opens with the killing of Jackie Velez (Lina Esco), a Miami police Captain, after a veiled phone call with someone clearly under threat of discovery by some dangerous people. Her death leaves Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) in charge of their special narcotics unit, and though he seems eager to hunt down whoever’s responsible, he’s in a tricky spot. The Captain wasn’t short of enemies in the drug trade, but amid widespread corruption that saw an entire violent crime unit disbanded, Internal Affairs and the FBI are looking closely at Jackie’s former team. Any wrong move could get them similarly shut down.
But he has an opportunity to do… something. Dane has received an anonymous text with the location of a cartel stash house, and he encourages his full squad to join him off-hours in checking out the address. With him are Detective Mike Ro (Steven Yeun); Detective Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor); Detective Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno); and Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Ben Affleck), his closest friend, whose relationship with Jackie was the worst-kept secret on the force.
Dane’s behavior is odd, and only gets stranger when they discover that the messy suburban house occupied only by a young woman named Desi (Sasha Calle) has at least $20 million hidden in the attic wall. A rip of that size is like a time bomb; whether it’s the cartel or the group of dirty cops rumored to be hitting stash houses and pocketing the cash, someone is going to come for this money. But the Lieutenant’s paranoia and reluctance to protocol puts his team on edge. Suddenly, no one knows who they can trust.
It’s a compelling setting, but The Rip doesn’t play out like you’d imagine. The movie provides us with a lot of information before arriving at the stash house, far more than is necessary to set the scene. As a result, what Dane’s up to is never really a mystery, yet Carnahan attempts to play up the uncertainty anyway. The unreal quality this gives the drama is distancing, but also part of its charm. It’s like the film is cosplaying as a tense, twisty thriller – there’s a shared understanding it’s not the genuine article, but the better its imitation, the more endearing it becomes.
This makes for a particularly good way to enjoy the Affleck and Damon of it all. The film is being sold on their decades-long friendship and collaboration, and The Rip uses our awareness of their history to its advantage by giving their characters a similar dynamic. Despite attempts to give them depth, there’s not much to their roles that isn’t rooted in their star image. Whatever emotional draw there is to the story comes from Affleck’s look of betrayal when JD thinks Dane is playing him, or Damon’s pained expression when JD accuses Dane of wanting to steal the money. Carnahan wisely plays into this at every opportunity.
In fact, the casting in general deserves the lion’s share of the credit for The Rip‘s entertainment value. The film is full of talented, charismatic actors who mask what’s lacking on the page with sheer personality. Aside from Yeun, Taylor, Moreno, and Calle, Kyle Chandler plays a shaggy DEA agent, and action star Scott Adkins features as JD’s FBI agent brother. Rarely is there anyone on screen who lets things be uninteresting, even when they would be in other hands.
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It’s possible to watch this movie thinking mostly of what could have been – if the script was as deft as it sometimes pretends to be, this had the makings of a truly great thriller. But The Rip is a good time when experienced on its wavelength, and worthy material for a relaxed night in.
