With The Rip, writer-director Joe Carnahan delivers a slick, engaging, nearly straightforward action-heist film that has only two real flaws: an aggressive, contrast-heavy colour-grade and a climax straight out of a Bollywood film.

Assuming what can go wrong with movies these days — especially when they are originals on a streaming platform (this is a Netflix production) — braving a hard colour-grade and a silly climax aren’t the worst things in the world.

Inspired by a real-life $24 million cash bust from 2016 — the largest in the Miami-Dade Police Department’s history — the story is quite elementary: members of Miami’s fictional Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) — played by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor and Catalina Sandino Moreno — are questioned by the FBI after their captain (Lina Esco) is killed by masked assailants in the dead of night. Days later, an anonymous tip about an illegal stash of $300,000 prompts Dane, JD (Damon and Affleck) and the TNT into action.

The location — a house like any other house, watched over by a young woman named Desi (Sasha Calle) — sits at the end of an eerie lane of seemingly vacant homes. Secreted behind its drywall, the $300,000 turns out to be $20 million. The revelation cracks a rift within the TNT when Dane demands everyone’s phone and refuses to report the money to his superiors. The sudden arrival of a police patrol car — with two unquestionably corrupt cops — doesn’t help the situation.

Netflix’s The Rip is among the year’s smarter action films, streaming or theatrical

This is when the TNT’s — and the audience’s — internal radar goes on high alert and Carnahan, hardly loosening his grip on the screenplay or direction, shifts the film into action mode.

Carnahan’s film navigates through predictable territory with heightened senses. Its screenplay is sharp with some solid twists, and the performances from the ensemble are uniformly excellent (Damon is exceptionally good).

One scene in particular hits the ball out of the park. In a not-so-quiet corner of the house, under a rain of dust from the drywall being demolished, sit Dane and JD, interrogating Desi. The exchange becomes one of The Rip’s most layered moments, as the interrogation drifts into questions of morality and mortality, while the house literally falls around them.

By the time the house finally comes down, bursting into flames after being riddled with bullets, The Rip has already secured its spot among the year’s smarter action films, streaming or theatrical. One wishes it would have made its way to cinemas first.

Streaming on Netflix, The Rip is rated suitable for ages 18 and over because of bullets and some blood

Published in Dawn, ICON, January 25th, 2026