'The Rip' Is Dumb and Cheap and Barely a Real Movie, but I Still Liked It

There's always money in the Colombian person's walls

They’re watching ‘The Rip.’ Warrick Page/Netflix

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I feel like it should be a bigger point of conversation that The Rip is the second time Ben Affleck has starred in a Netflix Original movie where he’s a gun-toting tough guy on a mission searching for drug cartel cash who finds way more than he’s expecting hidden in the walls of a Colombian’s house. That’s a very specific thing to do twice, right? But I myself have mostly forgotten Triple Frontier, so I can’t fault anyone else for doing the same. I have not forgotten that Ben Affleck’s character in Triple Frontier was named Redfly, though. Redfoo, Redfin, Redfly.

Triple Frontier came out when Netflix was still at least nominally trying to make movies that could have been theatrical releases, while The Rip is very much a Netflix movie. My experience of watching it was colored by Matt Damon’s recent comments about how Netflix wants an action setpiece in the first five minutes and characters to restate the plot in dialogue a few times throughout the movie because people are looking at their phones while they’re watching. The Rip opens with a dead body in the opening scene, which is streaming’s single biggest cliche. Streaming executives make you put a dead body in the first scene. If there isn’t a dead body in the first scene, they throw the script in the trash. And then characters egregiously say what they’re doing to enable the second-screen experience. “Boy oh boy, these buckets of cash we’re carrying from the attic to the garage sure are heavy.” Matt Damon may complain about Netflix guidelines on Rogan, but he’ll still comply with them. He’s willing to play the game to get stuff made. Maybe he’s not even complaining, he’s just describing the way things are now.

The cast of ‘Triple Frontier.’ Claire Folger/Netflix

I’m not sounding like it, but I actually enjoyed The Rip — even though there are a lot of things I didn’t like about it, like how it’s set in Miami but obviously filmed in L.A. Really, though, I had fun. The most important thing a movie like this needs to do is create an atmosphere of tension. People go into a bad situation, and then it just keeps getting worse as the suspense builds. When all the lights went out on the block, I went “Oh shit.” Those are the moments I watch these kinds of movies for. Do I wish it was shot in more than one location, like a real movie? Of course. But Matt & Ben’s friend chemistry pops off the screen nevertheless. Ben firing an AR one-handed out of the car window while he drives is cool. Matt seeming like he’s playing a corrupt cop again only to reveal that he’s the least corrupt cop in all of Miami is a delightful twist. (One of my favorite parts of The Rip is how much it made me want to watch The Departed again). Steven Yeun is there. The Rip has a lot going for it. It’s meathead copaganda, sure, but it’s so earnest about it it’s kind of endearing. Its happy ending felt earned. Very solid three-star movie.

The experience of watching The Rip was a special one for me, because it’s the first time I’ve ever watched something for Dad Shows with my dad. When I asked him what he thought, he shrugged and said “very violent.” So that’s a two-star review from Brian Mathews.