The Rip: Quite disappointing

The Rip (2026) • View trailer

2.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for violence and gobs o' profanity

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 1.25.26

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have appeared together in more than a dozen films, since their small supporting roles in 1992’s School Ties. 

 

After climbing into an attic that is suspiciously clean and empty, narcotics cops J.D.
(Ben Affleck, left) and Dane (Matt Damon) notice that a back wall appears to be a
"false front."

They most often have been part of an ensemble cast, or one has starred while the other took a smaller supporting role, as in 2023’s Air. Learning that they’d share equal starring roles in a crime thriller helmed by action director Joe Carnahan therefore sounded promising … although his résumé is wildly uneven, to say the least. Hits such as Narc and The A-Team share space with junk such as Battle Ready and Shadow Force.

Carnahan and co-scripter Michael McGrale clearly borrowed a note from Howard Hawks’ 1959 classic, Rio Bravo — remade, in an urban setting, by John Carpenter in 1976’s Assault on Precinct 13 — and that also seemed like good news.

 

Alas, all that potential is sabotaged by the most relentless barrage of F-bombs I’ve ever endured in a mainstream film. Every character succumbs to this nonsense, at times unleashing a torrent within a single sentence. It’s inane, distracting and a glaring example of uninspired screenwriting. We barely get a sense of these people as individuals, because they’re little more than profanity-spewing caricatures.

 

Ahem.

 

Things begin viciously, as Miami-Dade Police Capt. Jackie Valez (Lina Esco) is brutally murdered, late at night, by two masked thugs … but not before she sends a text. To somebody.

 

In the aftermath, the members of her special unit — the Tactical Narcotics Team — are grilled by higher-ups who’ve heard rumors of crooked cops robbing drug houses. These silly interrogations don’t get the story off to a good start, since both Lt. Dane Dumars (Damon) — Valez’s second in command — and Detective Sgt. J.D. Byrne (Affleck), along with the visiting Feds, lose their tempers in twin displays of unrestrained overacting.

 

As an added wrinkle, one of the Feds — Del (Scott Adkins) — is J.D.’s brother.

 

The team later regroups to assess the situation; the other members are Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor) and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno). The latter handles their drug- and cash-sniffing beagle, Wilbur. DEA colleague Matty Nix (Kyle Chandler) drops by briefly to hassle them; it’s difficult to tell if it’s good-natured ribbing, or genuine suspicion.

 

In a nod to Robert Mitchum’s character in 1955’s Night of the Hunter, Dane has two sets of letters tattooed on his hands: AWTGG and WAAAWB.

 

Dane subsequently receives a tip about a supposed drug stash house in nearby Hialeah; he leads the team to the address in question, at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. Tellingly, when his colleagues individually asks how much cash supposedly is involved, he gives a different amount to each person.

 

The house is occupied solely by the late owner’s granddaughter, Desi Molina (Sasha Calle), who clearly knows more than she initially admits. Wilbur suddenly barks furiously during the subsequent search, which leads Dane and J.D. into an attic which is oddly pristine, in contrast to the cluttered and disorganized rooms below.

 

After battering down a sub-wall, they find an eye-popping amount of cartel cash in large plastic barrels: an estimated $20 million, vastly in excess of what was expected.

 

Recognizing the danger involved in confiscating so much money, Dane breaks protocol, confiscates everybody’s phones — to ensure the outside world doesn’t get tipped off — and struggles over what to do next. The situation grows more tense after a brief visit from two oddly behaving local patrol cops, followed by a threatening call to the house phone from an Unknown Party whose voice is concealed.

 

Then Mike, sent outside to reconnoiter, realizes that the cul-de-sac isn’t merely quiet; it’s downright spooky. No parked cars, no lights in any neighboring windows.

 

Suspicions rise within the team members, who worry who can be trusted. (Plenty more F-bombs erupt.) Tempers flare; J.D. insists on seeing the original tip, but Dane refuses to show it to him.

 

Credit where due, Carnahan builds the suspense effectively; we viewers struggle with the obvious questions. Who isdirty, if anybody? Is this actually some sort of clandestine FBI sting, intended to identify a bent cop? On the other hand, the deserted neighborhood screams cartel involvement … in which case, when will they make a move?

 

The lengthy third act delivers a satisfying amount of action, and The Eventual Reveal — and how it’s achieved — is reasonably clever.

 

But all of these characters are one-note, if that much. Damon can’t quite sell Dane’s suspicious unwillingness to keep everybody clued in; it makes no sense that the others would tolerate this. Affleck’s J.D. is too easily enraged; it’s hard to believe he could maintain a career, with such anger-management issues. Damon and Affleck fail to establish any sort of realistic shared dynamic between Dane and J.D.

 

Yeun’s Mike is a welcome bit of calm, but Taylor and Moreno are little more than accessories; Numa and Lolo spend much of the second act sullenly counting the money, which seems idiotic, under the circumstances.

 

Frankly, I was emotionally invested solely in Wilbur’s fate.

At best, The Rip is disposable Friday night entertainment: by no means memorable enough to leave a ripple on the cinematic pond. At worst, it’s silly, badly over-acted and needlessly profane.