The Rip

{The Rip}, a new intense police thriller that primarily stands out for bringing together the legendary duo Ben Affleck and Matt Damon side-by-side, unfortunately gets off to a rather poor start. Despite the best intentions and obvious talent of a reasonably dedicated cast, it feels awkward as we are introduced to the intense situation unfolding among Miami's various investigative units, each of which is plagued by extreme corruption and officers who, to varying degrees, collaborate with the cartels.

A high-ranking officer, Velez, has been killed, and as a result, the FBI is keeping a particularly close eye on her unit. This creates mistrust between the unit's officers, played by Damon, Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, and Catalina Sandino Moreno, and discord between the district's distinct departments, but things are not made any better when the leader, Damon's character Dane Dumars, receives an anonymous tip about a large illegal cash stash in a particularly troubled area called {Hialeah}.

What follows is about an hour and a half of relatively intense action in classic {Sicario} style, where a smouldering score, growing mistrust between team members, and external pressure pave the way for a rather effective thriller build-up.

The film's second act is particularly well executed, both because the entire act takes place in the same, seemingly trustworthy house, which of course hides more than first assumed, but also because the film manages to heighten the intensity and nail-biting suspense without resorting to pompous action, just as Denis Villeneuve so masterfully demonstrated with {Sicario} many years ago.

It's in the deviation from this setting and formula that {The Rip} begins to falter a bit, as in the more explosive finale, where director Joe Carnahan clearly does not really know how to position or move the camera, and where the air goes out of the balloon a little.

But thanks to fairly well-functioning performances from Affleck, Damon, Yeun, and to some extent, Kyle Chandler as DEA agent Mateo "Matty" Nix, {The Rip} manages to seem pretty flawless most of the time, and there are even a few "aha" moments where the plot is turned on its head, creating a surprisingly good resonance.

It's very, very clear that Carnahan and the rest of the crew looked directly at {Sicario}, and {The Rip} doesn't have nearly as much finesse or style, especially when simmering intensity is replaced by slightly mindless action, but the plot, set design, and especially the acting performances ensure that {The Rip} rises above other typical Netflix films thanks to good old-fashioned craftsmanship.