The Rip: A gritty police drama that struggles to cross the finish line

Director Joe Carnahan's 'The Rip' is a crime thriller that could have been so much more. It is not your standard crime-action film where the main heroes beat up the bad guys without breaking a sweat. It tries to craft a decent, suspenseful story without relying on flashy fight scenes. However, in the end, the movie is just barely above average.

Released on 16 January on Netflix, the film revolves around a Miami-based Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) dealing with the murder of their captain, with the primary accusation being that someone from their own team is responsible. 

But when they receive a tip to search a house for illicit money, the conspiracy deepens further as distrust and suspicion brew over who among them is trying to steal the cash. Filled with drug cartels and corrupt federal agents, the entire film is layered with mysteries and plot twists.

Based on Miami-Dade officer Chris Casiano's real-life experience, The Rip traces a single night that tested more than police procedure. After Casiano's team uncovered $24 million hidden inside a suburban home during a 2016 raid, the hours spent guarding and counting the cash exposed how temptation, fear, and loyalty can collide when duty leaves no way out.

The Rip is filled with suspense and plot twists, and while these are not very creatively written, they make the first half of the film fun to watch as the plot unravels. But the sluggish pacing makes the major plot twist feel very unrewarding, since by the time it happens in the second half, you are just hoping for the movie to end quickly. 

The movie has massive star power, with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon starring as the dynamic duo of Detective Sergeant JD Byrne and Lieutenant Dane Dumars. They essentially carry the film on their backs, and make every scene feel intense and realistic. 

Every line delivery and expression is right on the mark, even when the writing itself feels weak and strange. Their chemistry is unsurprising, as Damon and Affleck, childhood friends from Boston, bring over four decades of shared history.

Furthermore, to ensure authenticity in their performances, Damon and Affleck spent time in Miami with the police department, observing officers whose real-life experiences shaped the film. Damon also accompanied the officer who inspired his character. Steven Yeun, Sasha Calle, and Scott Adkins also appear in the film, even though they do not get enough opportunities to shine.

Although the storyline revolves around stolen cash and corruption, the film's deeper concern is moral uncertainty — asking whether its protagonists can truly call themselves the "good guys." The characters grapple with the personal cost of integrity, especially as underpaid officers tempted by a fortune that could change their lives. With time running out, they must choose what kind of cops they want to be. 

However, the film avoids any grounded portrayal of police work. The detective unit operates like a loosely assembled vigilante squad, ignoring procedures, authority and legal limits. The world-building and set design are so weak that they make the last 40 minutes of the film feel like it popped out of a homemade indie film in the late 2000s.

Cinematographer Juanmi Azpiroz, however, makes such a massive contribution to the visual language of the film that it is able to make the insufferably slow parts digestible. 

The low exposure, soft lighting, and darker colours complement the mysterious tone perfectly and make the stakes feel more consequential as a result. Editor Kevin Hale's use of sharp cuts between characters maintains steady tension, giving viewers little room to breathe amid the constant shifting chaos plaguing the characters.

Even though the story is inspired by real-life events, it does not fall into the usual trap of glorifying American police as selfless, powerful, and brave heroes. It does transition into an action flick in the last 30 minutes of the film, when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are suddenly fighting the bad guys one-on-one, but for the most part, they are written as grounded people.

I did not feel the story had enough substance to justify its runtime of 1 hour and 52 minutes. Most parts of the film feel very drawn out, and the duration is rarely used to explore conflicts within the characters' psyches. 

The characters are written one-dimensionally, and if not for the incredible acting, the movie would have lost even more depth. With maybe only five minutes of the entire film exploring its themes, combined with a few illogical plot developments, major chunks of the movie feel like filler or simply boring.

To its credit, the film is filled with suspense and plot twists, and while these are not very creatively written, they make the first half of the film fun to watch as the plot unravels. 

But the sluggish pacing makes the major plot twist feel very unrewarding, since by the time it happens in the second half, you are just hoping for the movie to end quickly. With better pacing and a tighter plot, the final execution could have been way better.