The Rip (2026) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

When there is a price for loyalty, the same can be said with dignity.


PLOT


2026’s The Rip follows layers of suspicion in the Miami-Dade Police Department, especially the Tactical Narcotics Team after Captain Jackie Velez has been recently murdered and rumors are spreading of crooked cops robbing drug houses. Her second in command, Lieutenant Dane Dumars gets a tip of a stash house in Hialeah and takes his team with him to check it out. His team includes: JD Byrne, Mike Ro, Numa Baptiste & Lolo Salazar. When they ask him how much is expected to find, he tells each of them different member as he wasn’t given an exact one. The homeowner is Desi Molina, who took after it when her grandma died. When she hesitantly lets them in, they find more than $20million in drug cartel cash. Realizing the risk associated in finding such a large sum, Dane breaks protocol by not notifying higher command and taking everyone’s phone, not noticing Ro secretly keep his burner. When he and JD have an uneasy encounter with two local officers, they remain armed while the others stick to standard procedure to count the money on site. Desi admits she was instructed to offer a share of the stash should it be uncovered, but Dane remains suspicious of her when looking up she was once an informant. When the house gets an unanimous call threatening them to leave, JD admits he’s not being upfront with the tip he refuses to show. Afraid of his lieutenant and close friend preparing to steal the money, he calls CIA agent Marty Nix, who suggests he’s got motive since he just lost his son to cancer. As they soon realize the whole neighborhood is under control of the cartel, Desi tells Ro she suspects Dane to steal the money. And when they power gets cut, they take heavy gunfire that results in Salazar getting injured. They run into a gunman who calls his boss assuring they didn’t attack the TNT, but are willing to abandon the money since Jackie’s death has already given them a lot of heat, implying someone from the team could be responsible. When JD gets into a scuffle with Dane for remaining mysterious, he takes Ro’s burner in the midst of it but they unintentionally start a fire before Nix arrives. Numa & Lolo accompany Desi with the money and follow the guys behind Nix’s armored vehicle. On the ride, Dane admits it was Jackie that sent the tip before being killed, use the house as bait for the crooked crew and force them into action, making everyone think he wanted to steal the money in order to find the traitor. Knowing the mysterious caller said the amount of money he told Ro, he deduces him to be the one in cahoots with Nix and the local cops, which backs who shot at the house before the fire. JD confirms the theory when using the burner to call Nix. With the truth out, Nix has a shootout with them which causes the driver to shot. He admits he ambushed Jackie, which would be another mistake for him to make because JD had already alerted his FBI agent brother, Del, who has cornered him with authorities. Dane is able to stop Ro from escaping, but JD would have to chase Nix down to the point of shooting him in self defense. With the girls still having the money, they turn it in and Desi gratefully gets 20% of the seizure for cooperation. The film ends with Dane and JD watching the sun rise in Jackie’s memory.


THOUGHTS


There have been quite a few crime films, particularly heist based, that are so fun to watch because just seeing how everything unfolds is very fun. DIrector Joe Carnahan does a great job choosing to do the anti-thesis of the sub-genre by choosing to do the right thing and give back rather than keep for yourself. Keeping that aspect a secret is where it becomes appropriately intense from start to finish. And when the shootouts get going before the climax, Kevin Hale is able to edit it all to exact adrenaline the characters are going through in the moment. While the action is pleasing, I think the whole ordeal is worthwhile is because cowriter Michael McGrale gets it across that it's always important to find the blurred lines in your surroundings as that can help better how you want to make life changing decisions. In this case, you either stoop low and succumb to corruption or aim high and stick to your morals. With a solid ensemble, the message is clear that the latter is bound to be the best choice. Matt Damon & Ben Affleck have been friends for years, so seeing have to be against each other in order to lure out the true threat is impressive. Damon seals the deal in making Dane one too many steps ahead that not even his friend could figure out half the time and he has to be this calculating in order to get the answer he wants. And yes, I did suspect him a little bit to have gone rogue once it was exposited that he lost his son, but that loss became his drive at the most ideal time for him. Affleck is dope as JD because while he has his childish rivalry with his brother Del played by Scott Adkins, in which they only relate to having constant suspicion, the guy is not acting like a hothead but more of a protective figure since he doesn't want himself nor the team to be betrayed by one they all look up to. He definitely had his own motive too if he wanted to since his relationship with Jackie demoted him before she died. Nevertheless, the loss was his drive as well and that only gave him all the focus to think ahead just enough to know his leader ain't losing it. Suspicion is everywhere when looking at everyone else because Teyana Taylor made Numa the most confident & complicit since she trusts Dane that much; Her motive could've been wanting to start over because why not. Then when you look back at Catalina Sandino Moreno, she portrays Lolo as the only one to be most situational because off of being a divorced mother of two daughters, that's enough motive for her wanting things to be a little easier for her. Thankfully, both ladies don't cave and maintain following the right footsteps. Desi isn't even part of TNT, but Sasha Calle made her compelling because she's one less guilty with what she has to compromise with, apparently using cartel money to pay for her grandma's funeral & past medical expenses beforehand. She was a pawn in the long run, but she chose to avoid being more than that because she knew she'd be in all the more trouble, thus not trying to make a run for it and accepted the bare minimum of what she was given. It's always one thing to have a single traitor, but two sure is a bigger bummer. The second Ro hid the burner, I knew he was the traitor and Steven Yeun was on point making him one who starts out straight laced only to be disillusioned that he deserves more than what he earns. Adding Kyle Chandler to the mix as Nix, then you're set with a dynamic duo for the ages since he used his pragmatism as a ruse to cover up the greed. He was so greedy that he actually tried shifting blame of Jackie's death on Ro when he pulled the trigger. Considering he's more shameless about his actions, he was bound to be stopped the way he did. With one big threat over, all that Dane and JD can over after seeing the sun rise is to keep living because that's all their loved ones would do. With the look of content both men give before the credits roll, I'm sure that's what happens. This movie is fun to watch, but there were still some things that confused me as I saw it. Like from the start, why was Del allowed to question JD? Even if the point of the scene was to show they don't see eye to eye, that's gotta a conflict of interest-type situation that should've not been possible. And while I wonder why Desi didn't just wait for the warrant before the team enters, it's kinda impressive Dane didn't follow JD around after keeping the girls together. If he's not sure who to trust, that would've been reasonable of him to do. Also it was unwise for Nix to go in alone apart from the other cops that are in on the heist, but I was more stunned with the fact Ro didn't even know morse code like JD did to figure out the whole neighborhood is owned by the cartel. I feel like that should be taught when in FBI. Other than that, The Rip is a real fun crime thriller that knew what it was and delivered in all its checkmarks. If you got Netflix and prefer these kind of movies, check this out.