Affleck And Damon Face Off In The Rip Thriller

Netflix’s latest crime thriller, The Rip, directed by Joe Carnahan, storms onto screens with a potent mix of familiar genre beats and electrifying star power. Released on January 16, 2026, the film has quickly become the subject of heated discussion among critics and audiences alike, thanks in no small part to its lead actors, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, whose on-screen chemistry and off-screen friendship add a unique layer of tension to the story’s unraveling chaos. According to The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire, the film’s Miami setting, moody visuals, and pulsing synth score evoke the spirit of Michael Mann classics like Heat and Thief, but Carnahan’s signature style and the cast’s dynamic performances keep it from feeling like a mere homage.

Inspired by true events, The Rip opens on a stormy Miami night. Jackie Velez (Lina Esco), captain of the Miami-Dade narcotics division, races through the rain, desperately trying to save a woman in danger. Before she can reach her, Jackie is ambushed and fatally shot by two masked men. In her final moments, she manages to send a cryptic text and dispose of her burner phone—a chilling prologue that sets the tone for the paranoia and mistrust that will consume the film’s core characters.

With Jackie gone, Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) is promoted to fill her shoes. Dane, still reeling from the death of his 10-year-old son to cancer and the collapse of his marriage, finds himself thrust into a maelstrom of suspicion. He’s immediately unsettled by the low-key nature of the internal investigation into Jackie’s murder. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, Dane urges his chief, Major Thom Vallejo (Néstor Carbonell), to let his team take the lead, but Vallejo—himself beset by budget cuts and corruption allegations—defers to the Feds. The Violent Criminal Apprehension Team has been shut down, with further job cuts looming, adding to the sense of instability within the department.

Dane’s loyal second-in-command, Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Ben Affleck), is equally frustrated. JD, who shared a romantic relationship with Jackie, bristles at the suggestion that a dirty cop might be responsible for her death. Tension is further ratcheted up by the presence of FBI agent Del (Scott Adkins), who, in a twist, is JD’s own brother. As IndieWire points out, the film leans into the “ride-or-die” bond between Damon’s and Affleck’s characters, only to test it as the narrative unfolds.

The story soon shifts to a pivotal crime-stopper tip: a cartel stash house in Hialeah. Despite grumbling about a freeze on overtime pay, Dane rallies his team—detectives Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno)—for the raid. The team’s money-sniffing dog, Wilbur, leads them to an attic that is suspiciously pristine. There, they find Desi (Sasha Calle), a young woman who claims the house was her late grandmother’s and insists she knows nothing about the attic. That alibi quickly unravels when the officers smash through a false wall and uncover a staggering $20 million in cash—far more than the six-figure sum initially reported.

Miami-Dade police procedure requires a full count of any seized cash before the officers can leave the scene. This protocol, intended to prevent theft, instead becomes a pressure cooker. The amount listed on the tip keeps changing, and Dane hesitates to call in their findings. As threatening anonymous calls begin, the team is given just thirty minutes to decide whether to take a cut of the millions and get out before violence erupts. The situation becomes even more volatile when two suspicious Hialeah cops start asking questions, and a cartel member is spotted signaling from a nearby house. The arrival of Matty Nix (Kyle Chandler), a former cop turned DEA officer, in an armored truck further complicates matters.

What follows is a claustrophobic standoff, where alliances fray and suspicions fester. Lolo is wounded in a hail of bullets, and Desi, handcuffed and terrified, gradually reveals that she knows more about the house’s true occupants than she first let on. As IndieWire observes, the film “packs this powder keg even tighter by placing Dane’s team under a ticking clock; after some other interested parties catch wind of the fortune, it’s only a matter of time before our characters find themselves under siege.”

Amid the chaos, the film probes the moral dilemmas facing its characters. Can even the most principled cop resist the temptation of $20 million in cash? As the team’s loyalty is tested, the line between good and bad blurs. Carnahan’s script, as IndieWire puts it, “hinges on the notion that police don’t get paid enough, and that weeding out the ‘bad ones’—with bullets to the head—would make a material difference to the world at large.” The story becomes a “purity test” for each member of the Tactical Narcotics Team, forcing them to confront just how far they are willing to go.

At its heart, The Rip is as much about relationships as it is about crime. The lived-in rapport between Damon and Affleck elevates the film beyond standard streaming fare. As IndieWire notes, “it’s raw to see JD and Dane start to second-guess each other—it engenders a state of disbelief that echoes the uncertainty felt by the rest of their team.” Their dynamic, forged over decades of real-life friendship and collaboration, adds a layer of authenticity that grounds even the film’s most melodramatic moments.

The supporting cast also shines. Steven Yeun’s Mike Ro brings a gentle honesty that keeps viewers guessing, while Teyana Taylor and Catalina Sandino Moreno imbue their roles with understated strength. Sasha Calle, as Desi, deftly balances guardedness with vulnerability, making her character one of the film’s most intriguing figures.

Visually, the film is a treat. Juan Miguel Azpiroz’s gritty cinematography sidesteps the usual Netflix gloss, and Clinton Shorter’s synth-heavy score pulses with menace. The direction is muscular, the editing sharp, and the action sequences—replete with car chases and gunfire—keep the tension high.

Behind the scenes, The Rip is notable for its production model. Affleck and Damon produced the film under their Artists Equity banner, promising all 1,200 cast and crew members a one-time bonus if the film meets certain viewership benchmarks. As IndieWire points out, this “share the wealth” mentality dovetails with the story’s themes and gives the project a sense of material consequence that’s rare for straight-to-streaming releases.

While The Rip doesn’t reinvent the cops-in-a-pressure-cooker genre, it delivers a solid, entertaining thriller that’s more than the sum of its parts. Its blend of tense plotting, moral ambiguity, and powerhouse performances make it a standout in the crowded streaming landscape. In a world where the lines between right and wrong are increasingly blurred, The Rip asks: what would you do if $20 million was on the table and the clock was ticking?