The Rip – Review

Opening with a conversation about events and alibis, Miami cop Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) speaks with Major Thom Vallejo (Carbonell) about an interview with the Feds. Next comes some paranoia from an unknown caller to Captain Jackie Velez (Esco). As she pulls into a parking lot to talk to her scared caller, things get off to a rough start as masked men brutally murder her. She is the lead of the Tactical Narcotics Team, and gets out a quick text message before her ominous demise. Motives are unclear. Her team is not sure of what she was chasing, other than possible heaps of money. The division is falling apart.

Federal Agents Del Byrne (Adkins) and Logan Casiano (Tsuji) speak to the TNT team about the captain’s murder. None of them can stomach what happened. Strangely, FBI Agent Byrne’s own brother, Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne (Affleck), is on the squad itself, and he pushes back on the agents about the TNT questioning. Macho speak occurs from both sides, before the Byrne brothers get into a literal shoving match. Things do not seem to be going well for any of the Miami cops.

The TNT cops are not done yet as they get back to work in the following days. Dumars and Byrne are the leaders of their crew which includes detectives Mike Ro (Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Taylor), Lolo Salazar (Moreno) and Wilbur the Money Dog (Wilbur The Dog). They talk over rumors of cartel stash houses getting robbed by cops, and mingle with local DEA Agents, like Mateo Nix (Chandler) and Dayo Reyes (Cantillo). Next, Dumars reveals that they have a Crimestopper tip come in and they have a target – he has a text with an address about big money.

The crew gets ready, and goes in to case the house, expecting heaps of cash, ready for the crew to rip. They zip over to Hialeah and head to a house, knocking on the door. As Desi Molina (Calle) answers, she knows things are about to get crazy. Little does anyone know that this seemingly normal neighborhood is full of unexpected surprises. Does this crew have more to worry about than a few hundred thousand dollars that they expect to find?

The script is okay story wise, but a lot of the dialogue feels a bit forced, and not like real humans talk, even tough-guy cops. While some of it is designed to push the story purposefully, it creates an atmosphere of “film” instead of settling into the vibes as if it were a realistic take, despite proclaiming at the beginning that this is inspired by a Miami sheriff’s real-life experience. When researching the true version versus the film, it is clear that the movie definitely aimed to be a hyped-up cop actioner with little based on true events other than piles of money. That’s okay though, as movies are supposed to be entertaining stories, and this one mostly is that.

Dialogue aside, this film definitely gets a pass and has more good than bad. The acting group is stacked with excellent talent, and the slow burning story does finally get to a few interesting points. The direction is solid, though some shots are a bit dark at times, but most of it keeps the viewer right in the action and excitement. If you like macho worded actioners or cop and crime capers, you will feel at home with The Rip.