To say I was pleasantly surprised at this brand-new Netflix action film would be an understatement. I admit that perhaps my own film snobbery prevented me from going into it without preconceptions of typical action straight-to-streaming films.
If it wasn’t for a superb cast, including legends of Hollywood Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, I may have given this one a miss- thank goodness I didn’t because what followed was a thrilling mystery that kept me locked in throughout its run time.
Gritty reality of crime
This film knows how to keep an audience, jumping straight into the action. However, unlike some films that have an exciting early segment that bears no importance to the plot, The Rip gets straight into a mystery that binds the plot.
The lighting is dimly lit, and the first few sequences are reminiscent of a traditional noir flick, setting the tone for the dark reality our characters find themselves in.
The film does not change this style till the end of the film with a climactic, perhaps overblown, finale.
Affleck and Damon, what’s not to love?
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon perfectly portray long-in-the-tooth, world-weary cops reeling from great personal losses. The two’s chemistry makes this film.
The two performances enhance every dramatic beat. Portraying the moral ambiguity of the characters perfectly.
It is unclear throughout the film who we, as the audience, are meant to be rooting for, which just makes it all the more gripping. A stellar performance from Steven Yeun only enhanced this feeling.
The performances from the cast made the film unpredictable in the best way. Often in cinema, there are two ways that twists can fail- being too impossible to guess or being too easy to figure out. The Rip did not fall into either of these traps; it was clever. Everything made sense upon reflection, but nothing did in the moment. This is, in my opinion, what makes a good twist.
Overdone final
Despite the quality of the first two acts, I found the finale to this film somewhat off the pace. Once the mystery had been revealed, it reverted to some cliche action film tropes, a chase scene and a shootout.
Whilst still enjoyable, the sudden shift from gripping thriller to fast-paced action did not sit entirely well with me. This film performed best as a slow burn, but when that fire went out in the final sequences, it had not fully landed the impact it was aiming for.
This perhaps mistimed climax weakened the film as a whole, and the ending of all the characters left a lot to be desired.
Definitely worth a watch
Whilst the film definitely fell short in some departments, if you’re a fan of thrillers, this one is certainly for you. Well-written mystery immersed in suspense is what hides in this otherwise unassuming Netflix movie.
