The new movie “The Rip” is the first collaboration of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon since the outstanding film “Air”, released in 2023. This movie is a police drama that has the majority of its scenes inside a house with 5 police officers and detectives, and 20 million dollars of drug money, found in the walls.

The entire story after the discovery of the money, which was expected to be at most 300 thousand, are repeated attempts to fool the audience about what is really going on. Is Lieutenant Dane Dumars played by Matt Damon the real criminal trying to steal this money, or is it his long-term partner and friend Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne, played by Ben Affleck? Could it be Detective Mike Ro played by Steven Yeun, or is it the other DEA Detective Agent Mateo ‘Matty’ Nix played by Kyle Chandler?

The conclusion of this story is impossible to predict because of all the characters involved and all the attempts to fool the audience, even for the most experienced moviegoer. With this much story misdirection it comes off more like a run of the mill police B movie. While the acting is good, mostly between Affleck and Damon the overall story is not good enough to recommend.

The Rotten Tomatoes critics’ ratings of 82% are way off, with the audience recommendation more in line at 72%. My rating is 70% and a mild pass. I was surprised that this movie on Netflix was not much better, considering the people involved in making this film.