Netflix film “The Rip”, which was released on this Friday, is a typical crime action thriller film which will not surprise you much if you are familiar with its genre clichés and conventions. While it is relatively more competent than many of average Netflix products, the movie does not bring anything particularly new or fresh to its genre territory, and it is a bit disappointing to see a number of prominent performers merely filling their respective roles as much as they can.

The movie opens with what we have seen from countless police movies out there. Captain Jackie Valez (Lina Esco), the key member of the Miami-Dade Police Department, is murdered when she is investigating on something quite serious, and the members of her specialized unit are immediately investigated by FBI right after that. Needless to say, everyone in the unit including Valez’s second-in-command Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) becomes a possible suspect, and even their chief, Major Thom Vallejo (Néstor Carbonell), is not so willing to help or support them.

Meanwhile, Dumars suddenly brings another task to handle despite this tricky situation of theirs. According to him, he recently received a tip on a certain drug house located in some neighborhood of Hialeah, and his four fellow detectives, JD Byrne (Ben Affleck), Miko Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno), go along with him to that place despite their reluctance.

Of course, it soon turns out that Dumars and his fellow detectives get themselves into a very serious situation. When they knock on the front of the door of that place, a young woman named Desiree “Desi” Molina (Sasha Calle) comes out, and it is apparent to them that this young lady seems to be hiding something behind back. After thoroughly searching here and there inside Molina’s house, they eventually discover a hidden space, and, what do you know, there is a lot of drug money inside this secret space.

As they check on how much the money actually is, Dumars comes to look more untrustworthy to everyone around him. For example, he still does not tell the others more about how he received that tip in question, though we already had a pretty good idea even before the movie reveals that early in the story. In addition, he told each member of his a different figure when asked about how much money they would find, and that makes him look all the more suspicious.

Anyway, Ro, Baptiste, and Salazar just follow Dumars’ instructions as expected, but Byrne comes to regard Dumars with more reservation and suspicion. Mainly because he was quite close and loyal to Captain Velez, Bryne has been determined to find whoever is responsible for her death, and it looks increasingly possible to him that Dumars is the one he is looking for.

Meanwhile, the situation expectedly becomes more complicated than before, and the movie did a good job of dialing up the level of tension on the screen. It seems that not only Dumars but also several other main characters in the story are not so reliable, and Dumars and his fellow detectives feel more pressured and cornered after it turns out that there is also someone else targeting on the money they are checking on.

Around that narrative point, you may easily guess the real villain if you are familiar with the law of Law of the Character Economy, though the movie does a fairly good job of distracting us from that. Around Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the movie assembles a bunch of notable performers such as Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, Scott Adkins, Kyle Chanlder, Lina Esco, and Néstor Carbonell, so it is a bit difficult for you to get the answer at first, but then you will see that the answer is pretty obvious right from one of these main cast members appears on the screen for the first time.

Nevertheless, director/screenplay writer Joe Carnahan, who wrote the story with Michael McGrale, keeps thing rolling before the movie eventually arrives at the expected finale where everything is fully explained as required. Steadily maintaining its level of suspense during its second half, the movie serves us with a couple of intense action sequences, and Carnahan, who previously gave us “Narc” (2002) and “The Grey” (2011), demonstrates that he is a dependable action movie director as usual.

In case of Damon and Affleck, who also serve as the producers of the film, they ably carry the film together as clicking with each other as well as they once did in their Oscar-winning film “Good Will Hunting” (1997), and their solid chemistry compensates for the clichéd aspects of the story from time to time. In contrast, many of the main cast members in the film are sadly under-utilized, but Taylor, Calle, and Moreno manage to hold each own small place well despite their thankless supporting roles.  

Overall, “The Rip”, whose title incidentally comes from a slang meaning police seizure, is a passable genre product with some entertaining moments thanks to the diligent professional efforts from its overqualified cast and crew members. To be frank with you, I do not think I will remember it much around the end of the year, but I will not stop you from spending your spare time on it.