Netflix's New Matt Damon, Ben Affleck Movie Is Uninspired Dad Cinema
The Rip (streaming on Netflix) is a dull, soggy, handsomely crafted cop caper. It features two bored-looking turns from stars and producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon; and three of the most obvious twists you’ll likely see this year. That it’s competently mounted by Guy Ritchie also-ran Joe Carnahan, a devotee if not master of muscular dad cinema, is an afterthought. The movie is so turgid and wastes so many talented actors on a screenplay which favors profanity over wit that it all but wears out its welcome before the opening title card.
The Rip Squanders Significant Potential
That enigmatic title refers to the stash of cartel cash our central antiheroes want to steal from the home of Desi (Sasha Calle), a young woman who may or may not be harboring drugs. Ostensibly, the crew led by Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) and Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Affleck)—which numbers Steven Yuen’s Detective Mike Ro and soon-to-be Oscar-winner Teyana Taylor as Detective Numa Baptiste—are Miami-Dade police officers, but the way in which they hang outside of the station on beach chairs, playing dominoes and swapping war stories, resembles more the life of soldiers stationed overseas. It’s not the first or last detail that this ripe actioner gets confused.
If you’re thinking, Surely there’s more plot to describe, there is not. The Rip is essentially a chamber piece which positions ever-shifting loyalties front and center. That would be an interesting idea, and there are glimmers of promise in the execution, but it falls flat because the outcomes are roundly telegraphed from the beginning. There’s a moment which occurs at the 66-minute mark, which is played as a grand reveal, but the biggest twist is that we weren’t supposed to glean that information from the opening scene. It all seems terribly obvious. Later twists, including rote double-and-triple crosses and the revelation of the true villain (spoiled as soon as you see the actor cast in the role), deliver a similarly hollow impact.
Distracting Amount of Swearing Permeates the Movie
The screenplay, by Carnahan based on a story by himself and Michael McGrale, is such a poorly-written chore you wonder how it attracted such on-screen talent. There are so many f-words and c-words that it becomes distracting, even if you don’t usually take notice of swearing in movies. A typical line of dialogue: “Don’t tell me to back the f–k up. F–k you! Tell me what’s f–ing going on!” There's a memorably arch moment in which one character informs another that he's "not a cop," but rather, well, an extremely rude word; but the movie unfortunately fails to follow through on that campy catfight promise.
Action Lacks Heft Despite General Technical Finesse
Though the film is lensed with finesse and features a fine score which works overtime to give the events a sense of immediacy, the action beats are incomprehensible. There are several chaotic firefights staged without any geographical certainty whatsoever, and the choreography of these scenes manages not once to be clever or pulse quickening.
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Notably wasted here is Taylor, given practically nothing to do despite being one of the generation's most charismatic screen presences. But even as the film tries its hardest, it’s impossible to contain the star’s incandescent and galvanic appeal. Though it’s extremely likely she’ll pick up an Oscar this year for her scene-stealing turn in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, Taylor’s acting career was previously earmarked by her bringing a consistent quality to outrageously dull projects, like Hulu’s series All Fair and Tyler Perry’s Netflix movie Straw. It’s a shame she wasn’t afforded the same opportunity on The Rip.