In 2002, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gerry Cardinale became co-founders of Artists Equity. This independent artist-led studio reimagines the relationship between talent, studio, and distributor.
Damon and Affleck have both paved their way in the industry and have created a legacy of their own. Their first professional collaboration (uncredited) was in Field of Dreams, but their massive rise to fame was in 1997 with Good Will Hunting.
Their story has always been inspirational because of their ambition. They both won their first Academy Award in their mid-twenties, and the film became a comfort for many breaking into the industry. Their acceptance speech alone would be on repeat for any aspiring artist because it was wholesome and endearing.
Over the years, Damon and Affleck have collaborated on seventeen films together. Establishing Artists Equity created more opportunities to help young filmmakers and gave them the creative freedom to work with distributors. From a producer's standpoint, Damon and Affleck have garnered extensive knowledge on how the industry functions today with streamers and studios alike.
Their latest film, The Rip, is loosely based on real events and was co-written by Joe Carnahan and Michael McGrale. It’s adapted from a genuine Miami cop, Chris Casiano, who found a large amount of money hidden in a house while serving as head of the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Tactical Narcotics Team.
Director Joe Carnahan brings a team of cops together and crafts an engaging situational crime thriller for Netflix. Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) and Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne (Ben Affleck) have both lost a dear colleague, and they know how it happened. They question the value of becoming cops and what it means after years of service.
The conversation surrounding their wage and the extensive hours they put in with the rest of the team, Detective Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Detective Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Detective Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno), makes the knowledge of the stash amount from the CrimeStoppers tip more appealing.
They were all about to go home for the day before Dumars made a split-second decision because he was fed up with the system. Once they get to Desiree Lopez Molina’s (Sasha Calle) home, the tide turns because of the actual amount they find hiding in her walls. The cast all worked well together and made excellent banter once the web of lies became more entangled.
Damon and Affleck both deliver powerful performances as they go head-to-head during the first half of the film. Dumars has his own reasons for conducting the operation, which he does not reveal to Byrne, leading to rising tensions between the two of them and the team. It’s still early in the year, but this thriller will be remembered for the unpredictable twists and turns Carnahan takes the audience on.
The Rip develops into an action-packed game of cat and mouse with surprising moments that were well-executed. The action scenes could have been smoother, but the dialogue among the cast became the most captivating. Every scene where information was revealed grew more enticing than the last.
The conventions for this crime thriller were utilized so well because the payoff in the end was worthwhile. The sequence between Damon, Affleck, Yeun and Kyle Chandler tied everything together nicely and gave weight to the final grand action set piece.
Rating: ★★★★
Review by: Amanda Guarragi