The Rip

This weekend, The Rip, a new cop thriller starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, was released on Netflix. The Rip follows a group of Miami cops who find a stash of millions of dollars, which leads to distrust in the team as outsiders begin to learn about the huge seizure. Matt Damon and Bett Affleck are always a good duo to watch and I always like a good cop thriller, so I was interested to see how this movie would be.

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Normally, with Netflix movies like this, the studio will pull in a couple of big-name actors and just make the most generic blockbuster slop they can. However, this movie was a much-needed change of pace, being a much more grounded cop thriller with a duo that actually makes sense together. The movie goes heavy on the thriller mystery aspect and lighter on the cop action, which works well for the story they are trying to tell. All throughout the movie, the tension continues to rise as distrust between the team begins to build, as you don't have any idea if someone is going to turn and steal all of the money. While you feel a lot of distrust, by the end of the movie, you can't help but like the team member who actually stayed loyal and stuck around. I like how the movie blends a cop thriller with a whodunnit mystery as this team tries to figure out who is after all of the money. The movie also delivers so much-needed action at the end, but not too over the top like the typical Netflix action movie. This is the first movie from Netflix in a while that doesn't feel like it was written solely to fit their algorithm.

While it was a nice change of pace, the movie is not reinventing the genre or anything like that. It is a pretty standard cop thriller throwing back to the 80s and 90s. If you are a fan of the genre, it is fun but it isn't going to be the best of the year or anything like that.

Overall, I thought that this film was a nice change of pace for Netflix. It feels more grounded and not written to appeal to a generic audience. These are the type of movies that I wish Netflix would make more of.

Score: 7.5/10 Grade: B Recommendation: Check it out