Ben and Matt. Matt and Ben. For decades, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have shared an undeniable cinematic pull, whether standing side by side on screen or shaping projects behind the scenes. Their most recent pairing before The Rip was Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel in 2021, and now they reunite once again in Joe Carnahan’s The Rip. Styled as an old-fashioned cop drama, the film fits neatly into the familiar territory both actors have explored throughout their careers. That naturally raises the big question viewers are asking on platforms like Flixtor 2025: does The Rip actually rip?
The story centers on Miami’s Tactical Narcotics Team, a unit shaken by the sudden murder of their captain, Jackie. The film opens with her final moments, a tense phone call with a frightened woman that ends in Jackie being ambushed and killed after sending one last mysterious text. Leadership falls to Lieutenant Dane Dumars, played by Damon, who struggles to keep the team together while internal affairs suspects Jackie was killed because of corruption within the department.
Dane soon receives a tip about a stash house in Hialeah supposedly holding a large amount of drug money. He assembles his team, including JD, Mike, Nima, and Lolo, and heads to the location. From the moment they arrive, it becomes clear that this rip, police slang for a seizure job, is not going to go according to plan. The money haul is far larger than expected, and paranoia quickly spreads through the group.
Despite the long-celebrated chemistry between Damon and Affleck, The Rip surprisingly fails to capitalize on it. Both performances feel distant and drained, as though the actors themselves are uninterested in fully inhabiting these roles. That same lack of energy carries over to the supporting cast, who, while talented, never quite come together as a believable or compelling unit. The sense of a tight-knit team is missing, and the emotional weight never lands as strongly as it should.
A major contributor to this disconnect is the dialogue. Much of it feels forced and unnatural, particularly when modern slang is placed in the mouths of characters it simply does not fit. Lines using words like “shook,” “salty,” or phrases like “miss me with that” sound awkward and unconvincing, especially coming from Affleck’s character. Rather than grounding the film in a contemporary Miami setting, the language pulls the viewer out of the experience.
As an action thriller, The Rip also struggles to deliver. Most of the film is confined to the stash house, which could have worked beautifully as a tense, bottle-style thriller driven by suspicion and a ticking clock. Instead, much of the runtime is spent with characters standing around, shouting at one another, without the escalating tension needed to make their predicament feel dangerous. While the film insists that everything could go south at any moment, it never quite convinces the audience to care about the outcome.
The movie claims to be based on a true story, yet the characters rarely feel authentic. The idea of a rat within the team is introduced early, but the film does little to mask their identity, removing much of the suspense. Without genuine uncertainty or rising stakes, the narrative never ignites.
Dane bears two abbreviations tattooed on his hand, explained as meaning, “Are we the good guys? We are and always will be.” Dirty cop stories have always worked best when that question feels genuinely unresolved. Unfortunately, The Rip never truly asks it in a meaningful way. The lack of tension and predictability drains the film of energy, leaving what should have been a gripping tale of betrayal feeling flat.
In the end, for viewers browsing Flixtor 2025 hoping for a sharp, paranoid cop thriller, The Rip promises more than it delivers. Instead of ripping through expectations, it barely scratches the surface, ending not with a bang, but with a tear.
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