Looked at one way, The Rip is just a story about corrupt Florida cops. Loosely—very loosely—based on the true story of some Miami police officers who found a giant stash of drug money in a suburban house, The Rip takes that setup and spins it into a twisty yarn about betrayal and self-dealing, as a cop unit sniffs out likely traitors in their midst. Released by Netflix and starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as the unit's rivalrous alphas, it's another one of Netflix's particular brand of high-end, star-fronted, TV movie of the week, in which big-name stars are given big paydays to skip theaters and go directly to streaming.
As a tough-guy vehicle for Damon and Affleck to chew scenery and bump chests, it's competent enough, if vaguely underwhelming in the way that Netflix originals tend to be. But as a metaphor for the changing state of the movie business in the streaming era, it's surprisingly adept.
