This film opens with a dull series of police being interrogated, including the stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. After inconsequential scenes that set up the feistiness of the characters, a team heads to a stash house where they discover a lot of cash. This starts the machinations of how to handle it and who might be dirty (there’s always a dirty cop), which results in intense discussions as the confusion and danger mounts. Through all the back-and-forth, the actors play it rough and tough. What little action that arises is staged in confusing darkness with matching editing. Writer/director Joe Carnahan creates a unique situation, but his efforts to generate tension don’t. It consists primarily of a lot of angry encounters, trying hard to be dynamic, but turning out to be a tirade of noisy drama. BTW, it’s never explained, but “The Rip” is cop parlance for “ripping off” the bad guy’s stuff and this is set in Miami but was shot in New Jersey. 
(2.5 / 5)
