Warning, there are spoilers ahead for The Rip, so if you haven’t used your Netflix subscription to check it out, now’s your chance to escape!
I’ll admit that I don’t always love the action movies that Netflix releases, but The Rip, produced by and starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, is a… rip-roarin’ good time. Ugh, I can’t believe I wrote that, but here we are. Anyway, the movie is super fun, with great performances from the leads and all the supporting actors, including Kyle Chandler, Steven Yeun, and recent Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor, among others.
The movie is full of twists, but there was one that never happened. Out of the $20 million and change that the team found in the house, they didn’t keep any of it? That really surprised me.
The Good Guys All The Way To The End
Maybe I’m too cynical, or maybe modern movies and the evolution of anti-heroes in pop culture has become too mainstream, but I fully expected one final twist at the end to reveal that the Tactical Narcotics Team led by Damon’s character, Dane Dumars took a little taste of the literally buckets of drug cartel money they discovered in the house that is the center of the action in the movie.
The film plays up the whole “will they or won’t they” aspect throughout, on top of the mystery as to who is actually trying to steal the massive amount of cash stashed in the house. The Rip is intense, did a great job of keeping me guessing the whole time, and right up until the end, I still wasn’t completely sure who the dirty cops were and who wasn’t. Dane and his team are on the up and up (well, all but Yeun's Mike Ro). They are so on the straight and narrow that they don’t steal one dime. I don’t think it would have made them bad guys if they had lifted a little.
Does Not Stealing Some Money Make It A Better Movie?
Let’s say that in the end, the final little twist is that each of the remaining members of the team took a little taste. Nothing crazy, like $100 grand or something. Would that have made them bad guys? Technically, sure, but it’s not like anyone would be mad about it. I wouldn’t be. Plus, it’s not like the team was a bunch of Boy Scouts. They all were a little shady, and they all were dealing with the trauma of losing their commanding officer.
I think it makes it a better movie, not to mention more realistic. Dane and his crew are still heroes for recovering 20 million bucks and ferreting out the real crooks, plus they get a little something for themselves to make their lives a little better. It’s the least they deserved after all the trouble the massive amount of money caused them.
The Rip isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s a great kickoff to the 2026 movie schedule. I hope the streamer finds more ways to make big action movies with huge movie stars like this one.
