Ever since Good Will Hunting in 1997, movie fans have been kind of obsessed with the bromance between Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who were friends long before they were famous. In their latest project together — Joe Carnahan’s The Rip, which hit the 2026 Netflix schedule on January 16 — they play members of the Miami Police Department, where suspicions rise amongst the officers after $20 million is recovered from a stash house.
In addition to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, The Rip also stars several other recognizable names, including Steven Yeun, Scott Adkins, Kyle Chandler and Teyana Taylor — whom we just saw give an inspiring acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. Critics were able to screen the new movie release, and Jake Cole of Slant rates it 3 stars out of 4, calling it a meat-and-potatoes action thriller that offers no real surprises, but makes for an enjoyably retro diversion. The critic writes:
Carnahan ratchets up a feeling of dread that positions The Rip closer in spirit to the work of John Carpenter than your run-of-the-mill crime thriller. The house that the cops raid is blanketed by a fog so thick that not even streetlights can illuminate much more than a few feet past the driveway, and the metallic tint of the film’s color timing gives the impression that the characters are standing in a giant gun barrel waiting for the bullet at the other end to be fired. … The tension only deepens instead of lessening as the cops are left with no one to fear but each other.
Eric Francisco of Esquire loves absolutely everything about The Rip — except for the fact that a killer Affleck/Damon movie is being dumped to only Netflix subscription holders in the middle of January. The nerve! Francisco continues:
The Rip is a welcome, maybe even necessary reminder of the mid-range pictures that kept Hollywood steady and made going to the movies fun. ... I'm sure the rest of 2026 will deliver better pictures—it's only January, and a Netflix release means I'm doomed to memory-hole The Rip by Q2. Netflix sure will. But these days I'm embracing anything that feels dirty and heavy and real. I'm embracing movies made with expertise honed from years of trying, not made through efficiency. The Rip isn't going to change the world. It's just making it bearable to live in it. I would have even paid for the pleasure.
Brian Truitt of USA TODAY gives the upcoming action movie 3 out of 4 stars, saying the decades-long history between the lead actors adds nuance to their friendship and friction in The Rip. Truitt continues:
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are such best friends that, when they throw down in The Rip, it’s like watching your mom and dad fight – albeit with more macho swagger and icy man-glares. Their on-screen conflict fuels the chaos and distrust when a group of Miami cops are faced with moral questions and a ton of cash in the cop thriller, cowritten and directed by Joe Carnahan. Damon and Affleck lead a starry action vehicle – including Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor – that, even with some plot issues and an overbearing intensity, is way better than most straight-to-Netflix potboilers.
Jerrod Jones of AV Club gives the movie a B, writing that it functions comfortably as a mid-tier action movie, with grizzled performances, plenty of twists and enough excitement to keep Dad from dozing off. The real-life friendship between Ben Affleck and Matt Damon adds a charge when they share the screen. In Jones’ words:
The real draw, though, is the reunion of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who sport hardass beards and bicker like angry brothers as the situation around them spirals into hell. The Rip is hardly an Affleck/Damon bro-down; amid the film’s thrumming plot of shifty-eyed police, Colombian drug cartels, and $20 million at its center, there’s little space in its two hours for their brand of joshing. Still, whenever Affleck and Damon mean-mug and hurl invective at each other—which is often, thanks to Carnahan’s quadruple-twist convolutions—the film becomes just as gripping as it believes it is.
Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert rates The Rip 3 stars out of 4, saying Matt Damon and Ben Affleck lean into their dad bods a little more than usual to portray world-weary cops. Tallerico praises director Joe Carnahan for delivering the rare Netflix original that plays like something you’d want to see on the big screen. The critic continues:
The Rip goes on a little too long in its final scenes and jettisons a few too many of its supporting characters along the way as the twists are revealed, as clever as they are. However, it’s so much better than most streaming original action films that no one will mind. In the end, it actually got me hoping that Carnahan could just become an in-house Netflix Original Action Guy, maybe even teaching a few of the big-budget hires how to do this kind of thing well. If we got a movie as airtight as The Rip every January, Netflix would be a better place.
Overall the critics seem more than satisfied with the action flick, as it’s garnered an 84% on the Tomatometer so far. While expectations for January streaming originals may not be very high, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck definitely have a lot of people looking forward to this one. If you want to check out The Rip, it is available now to stream on Netflix.
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