{"id":2557974,"date":"2026-01-30T05:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T10:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rip-up-the-script-review-of-the-rip-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T05:19:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T10:19:01","slug":"rip-up-the-script-review-of-the-rip-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rip-up-the-script-review-of-the-rip-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Rip Up the Script: Review of &#8216;The Rip&#8217; &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frip-up-the-script-review-of-the-rip-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2557974&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Peter tonguette\u2019s review of Netflix\u2019s The Rip describes a formulaic, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >forgettable action-thriller built<\/a> for distracted streaming audiences rather than theatergoing viewers. starring Matt Damon (Lt. Dane Dumars) and Ben Affleck (Detective J.D. Byrne), the film opens with a rapid, early action set piece \u2014 the assassination of Captain Jackie Velez \u2014 and unfolds as an internal police examination that drifts into a predictable \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-the-situation-is-completely-unstable-crenshaw-tours-the-southern-border\/\" title=\"WATCH: \u2018The Situation Is Completely Unstable\u2019: Crenshaw Tours The Southern Border\">stash house<\/a>\u201d plot set in Hialeah, with Sasha Calle, Teyana Taylor, and Catalina Sandino Moreno in supporting roles.<\/p>\n<p>Tonguette criticizes the movie\u2019s thin action, clunky and repetitive dialog, and plot reversals that feel like a low-grade imitation of better crime procedurals. He argues The Rip seems designed to be watched in short bursts \u2014 with key beats repeated for inattentive viewers \u2014 and that it lacks the moral seriousness or craft to benefit from a big-screen presentation.<\/p>\n<p>The reviewer also notes the film\u2019s industry context: it was produced by Damon and Affleck\u2019s Artists Equity in a Netflix deal that ties bonuses to streaming success. Tonguette finds it discouraging that such a disposable picture could still attract enough casual viewers to make that model pay off, even as he judges the movie itself largely unengaging and easily skippable.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Rip up the script: Review of &lsquo;The Rip&rsquo;<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/netflix\/\">Netflix<\/a> had me just where it wanted me this weekend: home. I was one among likely millions of Americans whose attention was divided between contending with Winter Storm Fern and watching streaming content. Both, in their fashion, constituted &ldquo;work&rdquo;: my driveway required regular shoveling if I had any hope of keeping ahead of the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4433095\/many-declared-dead-after-major-winter-storm-shutters-schools-offices-airports-flight-cancellations\/\">snow accumulation<\/a>, but my mind needed to be focused, some of the time, on the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-complete-guide-to-gina-caranos-post-mma-career\/\" title=\"The Complete Guide to Gina Carano\u2019s Post-MMA Career\">action movie<\/a> I was scheduled to review in this space: <em>The Rip<\/em>, starring <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/magazine-life-arts\/334346\/matt-damon-returns-to-europe\/\">Matt Damon<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/747974\/ben-afflecks-mother-taken-to-hospital-ahead-of-actors-wedding\/\">Ben Affleck<\/a> as morally questionable and\/or compromised <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/miami\/\">Miami<\/a> police officers. Like a man possessed, I would dart between my cozy home office, where I would watch <em>The Rip<\/em> in increments, and my increasingly snow-covered driveway. Back and forth I went: Netflix, driveway; Netflix, driveway; Netflix, driveway.<\/p>\n<p>What did it matter to them if I was consuming their content in dribs and drabs? At least I wasn&rsquo;t in a movie theater &mdash; nor were too many others. The box-office totals this wintry weekend were grim: some ghastly-looking <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/artificial-intelligence\/\">artificial intelligence thriller<\/a> called <em>Mercy<\/em> was in the top spot with a measly $11 million, which was sufficient to outrank <em>Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/em>, <em>Zootopia 2<\/em>, and <em>The Housemaid. <\/em>Only Netflix knows how many of this weekend&rsquo;s involuntary homebodies tuned into <em>The Rip<\/em>, but with stars like Damon and Affleck, numbers were likely not completely trivial.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4433745\/a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-review-tv-hbo\/\">At home in Westeros<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4433761\/revolution-art-the-met-exhibit-america-250-anniversary\/\">A revolution in art<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4439328\/white-house-dismisses-springsteen-song-minneapolis-ice-trampling\/\">White House dismisses &#8216;irrelevant&#8217; Springsteen song about Minneapolis<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>But surely the bros who dreamt up <em>Good Will Hunting<\/em> are sufficiently loyal to the moviegoing habit to be incensed that their latest production would be watched distractedly amid the worst winter storm in memory? Then again, maybe not. In a recent interview with podcaster <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-rogan\/\">Joe Rogan<\/a>, Damon sounded resigned to the Netflix way of working, which assumes audience inattentiveness. &ldquo;The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was you usually have three set-pieces &mdash; one in the first act, one in the second, one in the third,&rdquo; Damon said. &ldquo;And now they&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay tuned in. And it wouldn&rsquo;t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they&rsquo;re watching.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Rip. (Netflix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>At least I did not watch <em>The Rip<\/em> on my smartphone. Damon is right, though: After my initially choppy and artificially protracted viewing experience, I sat down to watch <em>The Rip<\/em> in a single setting. But this made it even clearer that it was a movie conceived to be consumed by preoccupied viewers. The action is too wan and unoriginal to make an impact on a big screen, and the dialogue is too clunky and repetitive to be closely listened to. The advertising breaks that naturally cut into programming on lower-tier Netflix subscriptions were entirely apropos. Watching <em>The Rip<\/em> was like watching an episode of <em>NCIS <\/em>in isolation from its surrounding season: it is understood that some details will be missed, but the basic gist of the episode will be comprehensible to most sentient beings.<\/p>\n<p>So what is the gist of <em>The Rip<\/em>? The movie opens with a series of images that suggest what AI would spit out if asked to produce an edgy South Florida crime movie: talk of burner phones, shots of cars cruising down the freeway at night, and a hastily assembled scene showing a masked team of assassins gunning down a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/black-lives-matter-nominated-for-nobel-peace-prize\/\" title=\"Black Lives Matter Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize\">police captain<\/a>, Jackie Velez (Lina Esco), in what must be the action sequence Netflix demanded in the first five minutes. The incident inaugurates a series of internal-investigation scenes in which Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) and Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne (Affleck) are quizzed about their relationship to their fallen colleague and about alleged bad actors in various acronym-laden units, including TNT (Tactical Narcotics Team) and the apparently disbanded VCAT (Violent Criminal Apprehension Team).<\/p>\n<p>Seemingly a lifetime ago, the Oscar-winning <em>The Departed<\/em> (2006) was a prestige project for Damon. These days, in this made-for-cable rehash of its general feel, he is reduced to sporting a graying beard and wearing eyeglasses to give his character an air of philosophical mystery. His dialogue certainly does not suggest any spark of intelligence. (&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been waking up every night, like, thinking about time.&rdquo; &ldquo;Did you shoot up the garage, man?&rdquo;)<\/p>\n<p>Likely sensing that attention-span-challenged Netflix audiences were unlikely to sit for an actual procedural, <em>The Rip<\/em> quickly shifts gears to the seemingly livelier terrain of a &ldquo;stash house,&rdquo; which supposedly holds some huge cache of ill-gotten drug money. Led by Dumars and Byrne, the police turn up in Hialeah, whose sketchy reputation is set by a &ldquo;Welcome to Hialeah: City of Progress&rdquo; swiss-cheesed with bullet holes. On the other hand, the cul-de-sac on which the stash house sits looks to be something out of a slightly seedier version of <em>Knots Landing<\/em>, and the apparent owner of the house, Desi Lopez (Sasha Calle), puts up minimal resistance to having her residence searched in the absence of a warrant. Quickly resolving any lingering doubts, a cash-sniffing beagle clues the team into the existence of buckets of money stowed away in an attic wall.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Byrne looks at protocol-eliding Dumars with increasing suspicion. Is Byrne a dirty cop? By God, could he have had something to do with Jackie&rsquo;s death? Who else might be on the take? Why do Detectives Baptiste (Teyana Taylor) and Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno) zip-tie the door while they count all that money? Is Byrne trying to flush out the real dirty cop? Wait &mdash; could the local Hialeah officers be up to no good?<\/p>\n<p>If any of these questions engage the viewer momentarily, they don&rsquo;t do so with sufficient force to sustain the next hour or so of mostly interminable action. The movie is like a simulacrum of an action movie. The stash house being set on fire, police shooting at each other in the back of an armored vehicle &mdash; these are not things one would encounter in a real action movie. Its various reversals play like D-level Agatha Christie, and its &ldquo;moral&rdquo; is a betrayal of hard-nosed action movies everywhere.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4425560\/dont-kill-mortgager-review-dead-mans-wire-gus-van-sant\/\">DON&rsquo;T KILL THE MORTGAGER: REVIEW OF &lsquo;DEAD MAN&rsquo;S WIRE&rsquo;<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is not the sort of review in which the reviewer laments a film bypassing theaters for streaming, because this is not the sort of movie that would benefit in any way from theaters. It is only meant to be watchable, or tolerable, in small doses on small screens. <em>The Rip<\/em> was made by Damon and Affleck&rsquo;s new production company, Artists Equity, through which they brokered a deal to compel Netflix to furnish bonuses for the cast and crew if the movie proves a hit for the streamer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It is difficult to know which is more depressing: that Damon and Affleck have used a disposable piece of junk like <em>The Rip<\/em> to test out their new model for film industry remuneration, or that <em>The Rip<\/em> will, in all likelihood, generate enough viewers &mdash; even very casual, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-supporters-plow-neighbors-driveway-for-her-she-likens-them-to-nazis-terrorists-megyn-kelly-tells-neighbors-what-to-do\/\" title=\"Trump Supporters Plow Neighbor\u2019s ... For Her. She Likens Them To Nazis, Terrorists. Megyn Kelly Tells Neighbors What To Do.\">snow-shoveling<\/a> ones &mdash; to make such remuneration possible.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Peter Tonguette is a contributing writer to the <\/em>Washington Examiner <em>magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Snowbound, Netflix kept me home and distracted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2691,"featured_media":2557975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LA.Film_.020426.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[72279,72276,72277,72278],"class_list":["post-2557974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-film-criticism-2","tag-movie-review-2","tag-the-rip","tag-washington-examiner-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LA.Film_.020426.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2557974"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2557983,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557974\/revisions\/2557983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2557975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2557974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2557974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2557974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}