Now Showing | The Rip

Rippin' the Rip

Brand new Forgotten Cinema: Now Showing for you! And we're gettin' that Rip count accurate for you. We dive into Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s latest collaboration, the new Netflix thriller The Rip.

And in classic Netflix fashion… it’s fine. Mid. Meh. Another entry in the long-running parade of “sure, I guess I’ll watch this” streaming originals.

The Performances Deserve Better

We agree on one thing: Damon and Affleck show up. Their performances are easily the strongest parts of the film, injecting more weight and charisma than the script really deserves. In another era, with a tighter screenplay and a director willing to lean into the actors’ strengths, The Rip might have been something memorable.

But the Netflix-ification of Cinema Strikes Again

Instead, the film is dragged down by weak writing, dim and lifeless set design, and a skeleton cast that makes the world feel empty, almost like the movie was assembled inside an algorithm-generated warehouse. Nothing feels lived in. Nothing feels dangerous. And nothing feels like it’s trying all that hard.

Then there’s the repetition. We couldn’t help noticing how often characters feel the need to say “the rip,” almost like Netflix is desperately reminding its second-screen audience what movie they’re watching every ten minutes. When the script is repeating key phrases like it’s afraid people have wandered off, it may be a sign the filmmakers know exactly how viewers consume these movies.

The New Bargain Bin?

For the Mikes, The Rip ultimately plays like the digital equivalent of a bargain-bin DVD — the kind of movie you’d see for $3.99 at a superstore (great TV show) and think, “Huh… Damon and Affleck are in this? Weird.”

It’s not the worst Netflix original. It’s not the best. It’s simply another one: a mid-tier thriller with great stars doing everything they can to rise above the material, while the production around them fails to meet their level.

Catch the full breakdown in the latest episode of Forgotten Cinema: Now Showing, available now on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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