The film is inspired by the true story of Miami-Dade County Police Captain Chris Casiano,[4] and tells the story of a group of police officers who, during a raid on a hidden cash operation, find their trust broken down as team members suspect each other of trying to steal a large sum of cash.
It was released by Netflix on January 16, 2026, to generally favorable reviews from critics. The production company, Artists Equity, negotiated a first-of-its kind deal with Netflix that provides the workers involved in the production of the film with a bonus if it performs well on the streaming platform.
Plot
When Captain Jackie Velez of the Miami-Dade Police Department is murdered, suspicion falls on her specialized unit, the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT), amid rumors of crooked cops robbing drug houses. Her second-in-command, Lieutenant Dane Dumars, receives a tip about an address in Hialeah and leads his fellow detectives, J.D. Byrne, Mike Ro, Numa Baptiste, and Lolo Salazar, to search the house for illicit money. When asked how much money, Dumars tells each team member a different number.
Desi Molina, the late homeowner's granddaughter, reluctantly lets the team inside. There they discover $20 million in drug cartel cash, hidden in the attic. Dumars, realizing the high risk associated with seizing such a large sum of money, disobeys standard protocol. Refusing to notify higher command, he also confiscates the team's phones, although Ro secretly uses a burner phone.
After an uneasy encounter with local officers, the team arm themselves as they count the money on site, per standard procedure. Desi explains that she was instructed to offer a share of the money if the stash was discovered. Dumars becomes suspicious after learning she was once a police informant.
As mysterious calls to the house threaten the team to leave, Byrne confronts Dumars for lying about the original tip, which he refuses to show him. Fearing the lieutenant is preparing to steal the money, Byrne calls DEA Agent Matty Nix, who suggests Dumars may have been involved with Velez's death. Realizing the empty neighborhood is under the cartel's control, Byrne investigates a nearby house alone, and Desi warns Ro that she heard Dumars convince Baptiste and Salazar to help rob the stash.
The power is cut as the house takes heavy gunfire. Salazar is wounded while Dumars and Ro chase off the gunmen. Byrne appears with a cartel lookout from the neighboring house, who calls his boss. He explains they did not attack the detectives and the cartel is willing to abandon their money, but warns that Velez may have been killed by a member of her own team. Byrne turns on Dumars, Ro loses his phone in the scuffle, and the house catches fire as Nix arrives. Leaving Baptiste and Salazar with Desi, the other detectives accompany Nix and the money bags in the back of an armored vehicle.
Dumars reveals that Velez sent him the tip before she was killed, planning to use the house as bait for the crooked heist crew. To force them into action, he led everyone to believe he was stealing the money himself. When the mysterious callers mention the money amount Dumars told Ro, he deduced Ro was in league with the crew, which includes Nix and the Hialeah officers; Nix and his men made the threatening calls and shot at the house, while Ro set the fire. Dumars later shared his plan with Byrne, who stole Ro's burner in the scuffle, which Ro uses to confirm Nix's involvement.
Nix opens fire, and his driver is killed in the ensuing fight while Ro and Dumars are wounded. Nix admits that he and Ro ambushed Velez, but Byrne had already alerted his FBI agent brother Del, so the crew is cornered by the authorities. Ro is chased down and arrested by Dumars, while Nix leads Byrne on a car chase but is shot dead. Having swapped the stolen money with phone books hoarded by Desi's grandmother, the team turns in the real cash. A grateful Desi receives twenty percent of the seizure for her cooperation. On the beach, Dumars and Byrne watch the sun rise in Velez's memory.
The film was first announced in June 2024, with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck set to star. The film was written and directed by Joe Carnahan,[5] who also developed the story with Michael McGrale.[1] Damon and Affleck also produced the film at Artists Equity.[5] Shortly after the project had been shopped around for a buyer, Netflix purchased the rights to distribute the film.[6] The contract between Artists Equity and Netflix is notable because the streaming service agreed to pay a one-time bonus to the 1,200 people who worked on the film if the movie meets certain performance benchmarks within its first 90 days. This is a departure from Netflix's usual approach of paying a single, upfront fee to talent.[7]
The film is inspired by the true story of Miami-Dade County Police Captain Chris Casiano; in 2016, Casiano and his narcotics squad's investigation and raid on a Miami Lakes residence uncovered $20 million hidden inside. However, the corrupt cop character in the film is entirely fictional. The character played by Damon is based on Casiano himself; Damon's character is grieving the death of his 10-year-old son, Jake, from cancer. The film's story was inspired by Casiano's real-life son, Jake William Casiano, who died from leukemia in 2021.[4]
Upon signing on, Netflix had certain script stipulations with Damon elaborating: "A standard way to make an action movie, that (Ben Affleck and I) learned, is you usually have three set pieces. One in the first act, one in the second and one in the third and they kinda ramp up. And the big one with all the explosions, you spend most of your money on that one in the third act and that's your kinda finale. Now, they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay tuned in ... 'And it wouldn't be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phone while they're watching.'"[8]
The Rip was released on January 16, 2026, on Netflix.[18]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 146 critics' reviews are positive. The site consensus reads "Leveraging Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's classic chemistry to texturize a friendship tested by greed, The Rip tears into its potboiler setup with compulsively watchable confidence."[19] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[20] Travis Andrews of The Washington Post awarded the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, described it as "fine genre fare" apt to please audiences who enjoy crime movies but more likely to disappoint others with clichés and overly long action sequences.[21]
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