Famed real-life buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have got the band back together for a new heist thriller, The Rip.
The Netflix movie finds the Good Will Hunting stars at the centre of a risky situation when they’re tasked with counting millions of dollars worth of cash stashed at a house.
Naturally, motivations and loyalties are tested and it’s not a straightforward job – or “rip”.
Critics have had their say, and on the whole they’re calling it a perfectly serviceable albeit uninspired flick. Here’s a round-up…
“It’s a shame the female characters are sidelined, despite the three possessing enough tenacity to easily play the boys at their own game. The Rip is ultimately a game for the boys, though, and taken as a piece of boisterous macho pulp, it’s a propulsive enough four-beers-in watch. A movie to be enjoyed on Friday night and forgotten all about by Saturday morning.”
“What were Ben Affleck and Matt Damon thinking with this charmless Netflix dud? […] It’s a character piece that does very little with its characters, since it’s been afflicted with the Netflix curse of dialogue written exclusively for people who are busy scrolling on their phones.”
“All in all, it’s quite a ride, yet the more things it tries to do, the less well it does them. As an adrenalised Friday night action flick it ticks all the right boxes, but it also feels like less than the sum of its – admittedly impressive – parts.”
“The Rip winds up sitting on the same uneasy fence about policing that almost every cop film does these days. It’s only half good, then, while also being not half bad.”
“Director Joe Carnahan brings snap, but this is basic beer-and-pizza stuff with a high-end finish.”
“It’s not as smart as it sometimes wants to be, or as thrilling as it could have been. But thanks to a potent mix of casting, atmosphere, and a touch of winking absurdity, it’s all you really need a streaming movie to be: a good hang.”
“These are all the ingredients for a gritty cop drama about a spiderweb of paranoia, but it plays out as a work that started with a seemingly clever climax in mind, then jury-rigged itself backward to fill in the rest.”
“The Rip doesn’t reinvent the cops-in-a-pressure-cooker genre, but its mix of closed-quarters tension, car chases and gunfire gets the job done.”
The Rip is streaming on Netflix now.