THE RIP (2026) review
written by: Joe Carnahan
produced by: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Dani Bernfeld & Luciana Damon
directed by: Joe Carnahan
rated: R (for violence and pervasive language)
runtime: 133 min.
U.S. release date: January 16, 2026 (Netflix)
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are back in front of the camera again. So, why isn’t their new crime thriller, “The Rip”, opening in theaters? Partly because that’s the current state of the industry, but also because this is the first collaboration between Netflix and Damon and Affleck’s production company Artists Equity, which produced the last film the two actors worked on, the Affleck-directed “Air” in 2023. Written and directed by Joe Carnahan (“Narc” and “The Grey”), the movie is inspired by one of the most significant criminal investigations in Miami police history. The tightly wound, well-paced story takes place over the course of one evening, in which loyalties, temptations, and accountability are tested within an overworked and underpaid tactical narcotics squad.
“The Rip” wastes no time, with an opening that sees the cold-blooded murder of Captain Velez (Lina Esco), gunned down one night by two masked shooters. This leaves the leadership of the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) open, and her right-hand man, Lt. Dane Dumars (Matt Damon), is assigned the role, despite his current disaffection with policing. Still, out of loyalty and a sense of loss and responsibility, he takes the job. Immediately after Velez’s murder, things are tense in the precinct, with Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne (Ben Affleck) getting in a heated argument with his brother, FBI Agent Del (Scott Adkins), because everyone knows about Byrne’s romantic past with Velez. The investigation is not off to a good start.
In an effort to keep the TNT crew occupied during this time, Dane calls them together to follow up on an anonymous tip about a stash of cash hidden in a house somewhere in Hialeah, a town outside Miami. With J.D. and Detectives Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), the crew head out to investigate the situation. When they arrive at the address, they find a house in the middle of a cul-de-sac, where a suspicious homeowner cautiously lets them in after reluctantly signing a search request for Desi (Sasha Calle, serving as a sort of femme fatale). She says it’s her grandmother’s house, and she knows nothing about any possible stash, but Lolo’s cash-sniffing police dog, Wonder, is losing his mind, which tells them otherwise.
When they find tubs of cash hidden behind a wall, the whole thing goes next level when Dane realizes that what was supposed to be six figures winds up totaling over $20 million. Everyone is shocked, and the situation quickly escalates into a furious debate over what to do with the “rip” (aka seizing contraband during a bust or ‘taking the bad guy’s stuff,’ known as ‘ripping’ it). Taking charge, Dane confiscates everyone’s phones and locks down the location, following police procedure requiring all cash to be counted on the premises where it was found. However, the unexpected turn of events leaves everyone involved edgy, doubting, and mistrustful of one another as they try to figure out what to do.
Wrestling with his own doubt and mistrust towards Dane, J.D. makes a call to someone he trusts, DEA Agent Mateo ‘Matty’ Nix (Kyle Chandler, making the most of a slight role), hoping that getting him involved will smooth everything out. Still, none of that is a sure thing either.
As if that wasn’t enough, the situation intensifies when they receive a threatening call from an interested party, setting off a ticking clock for survival. Dane and J.D. and the TNT must keep their heads as their location comes under siege by the mysterious threat, sparking rising suspicions amid combative fireworks that light up the neighborhood. All of this goes down while we wonder, “Who are the cops and who are the robbers?”
The “inspired by true events” part of “The Rip” is curious. Damon’s character is inspired by former Miami Police Department Captain Chris Casiano, who was involved in the real investigation that led to the film. Casiano, who has a cameo as a TNT Detective here (Carnahan also has a role as “Threatening Phone Voice”), is also a longtime pal of Carnahan and probably met the director when he was attached to direct 2020’s “Bad Boys for Life”, in which the former cop had been working as a police technical advisor. Casiano also worked with the director in the same role in his 2021 crime thriller “Copshop”.
While I’m uncertain about the real-life details of this specific “rip” to gauge how accurately the movie portrays it, Casiano was indeed present during the filming of “The Rip”, serving as a consultant and advising on procedural accuracy. There is definitely a feeling of verisimilitude felt here. Although not much is divulged about any of the characters’ personal lives, since we’re only spending a short time with them, there are hints that Damon’s Lieutenant has endured his own trauma. We learn that his son died of cancer at age 10, which sadly happened to Casiano.
In a conversation between Desi and Dane, we see her ask him about one of the tattoos on his wrist, which reads “A.W.T.G.G.?” He explains this means, “Are We The Good Guys?”, which is something his son used to ask him. That’s also a reference to what the son asks the father in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, as the father reassures they are, despite him committing murder in order to survive. If you have to have a tattoo to remind you of such a question, then it’s obvious your job is wearing you down.
Carnahan is a pro at crime thrillers, adept at introducing all the players and then organically adding doubt and mistrust into the mix. Of course, this only comes into play when the money is out there for all to consider. The characters ask themselves the same questions any of us would have: What would I do with all this money? Would I be able to get away with ripping it? Could I live with myself? None of the characters is inherently bad, but they aren’t necessarily convincing as straight-up “good guys,” which creates an interesting dynamic and conundrum.
Carnahan relishes dialogue rich in profanity, which feels authentic for these characters, yet unintentionally humorous for its excessiveness. There are aggressive, hot-headed outbursts aplenty, with the female characters remaining the coolest cucumbers under pressure. Requisite gunplay and physicality are ratcheted up in the final act, but anyone coming to this for pure action will be let down. It’s much better considered as an adrenalized procedural, and in that it delivers.
If there’s an issue with “The Rip”, it’s in the cinematography choices made by Juanmi Azpiroz, a frequent collaborator of Carnahan’s. The problem isn’t camera angles or lenses, but rather lighting and coloring; almost everything here feels dim, in blues and greens that muddy the activity, making it difficult to follow what’s what. It’s obviously an intentional choice, but it’s frustrating nevertheless.
That said, “The Rip” remains engaging and exciting thanks to the dynamic between Damon and Affleck. They are the closest thing we have to Redford and Newman. I’m not saying that separately, either of these guys is the equivalent of those legends, but together they have the same lived-in ease that Redford and Newman displayed on screen together.
RATING: ***
