I was in high school when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck burst on the scene with GOODWILL HUNTING. I loved that movie and their Oscar speech for Best Original Screenplay was infectious. For the record, I know they were also in SCHOOL TIES and a handful of movies before GOODWILL HUNTING, but that movie gave them a name. I, like many people from my generation, immediately felt connected to these guys. I’ve been a fan ever since even when they make bad movies. Their collaborations are always a welcome and it is with great pleasure to see them on screen as a couple of Miami cops with a prickly relationship on a very dangerous bust in THE RIP.
If you are unaware, “rip” in police terms is slang for “taking the bad guys stuff.” THE RIP follows a team of Miami cops who discover a stash of millions of dollars lined inside a seeming suburban home. The bust and rip lead to distrust among the team as they are stationed overnight counting the money with threats of outsiders learning about what’s happening. Will they turn in the money? Take some of the money? Who on the team might want a little taste? Who on the team might be a snitch? These are questions that keep THE RIP intriguing and second guessing the motives of each character.
The set up and story are fairly basic, but the direction by Joe Carnahan and the incredible cast elevate the material to a higher standard, making THE RIP better than expected. Matt Damon plays the lead Lieutenant team officer with Ben Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, and Catalina Sandino Moreno as the team detectives. Damon and Affleck play characters that have a history of friendship and working together, which is appropriate. But what makes THE RIP unique is that they become at odds pushing back on one another’s ethics and authority through this unusual bust with mysterious circumstances. The film does a decent job of keeping the audience at bay, but that doesn’t mean the reveals are all that surprising and can be somewhat basic. Nonetheless, it’s rip’in good time.
THE RIP is an entertaining mid-level crime thriller with a couple of our biggest stars at the helm. It’s an action, dirty, cop genre film that I wish studios would green light more often, because regardless of how basic it might seem it’s a good old fashion easy watch.
