A group of Miami cops discovers a stash of millions in cash, leading to distrust as outsiders learn about the huge seizure, making them question who to rely on.
Chuck says:
Tattooed on the curve between Detective Dane Dumars’ thumb and index finger is “A.W.T.G.G?” When asked what it means, he replies “Are we the good guys?” This is a question he and the other members of his special unit in the Miami police force ask each other and themselves every day. The group of swaggering, cynical, burnt-out cops are poorly paid, endure long hours, shown little gratitude and are under constant surveillance. As such, when the opportunity to abscond with $20 million in drug money presents itself, can they really be blamed for keeping a bit, if not all of it for themselves?
Such is the set up for Joe Carnahan’s “The Rip,” a gritty cop thriller that will have viewers posing the question on Dumars’ hand throughout. Just who we’re supposed to root for and if we should sympathize with this motley crew is in flux from the first moment to the last. The filmmaker pushes the “anti” in anti-hero to the limit.
The brutal killing of Captain Jackie Velez (Lina Esco) by two masked gunmen sets things in motion. As the head of the Tactical Narcotics Team, her underlings, including Dumars (Matt Damon) and her lover Detective Byrne (Ben Affleck), are at loss as to how to proceed. They don’t have much time to think about it, as soon after they get a tip that large stash of drug money is being stored in a residential neighborhood. Upon checking it out, the group – which also includes Detectives Ro (Steven Yeun), Baptiste (Teyanna Taylor) and Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno) – find over $20 million in ill-gotten gains neatly counted and cleverly stored. The inhabitant of the house, Desi (Sasha Calle), claims this is her recently deceased grandmother’s home and she has no idea where the money came from or who put it there.
This is the first of MANY lies told by the characters in Michael McGrale and Carnahan’s fact-based script, which surprisingly develops into an intimate portrait of deception and honor. Taking place largely in the not-so-safe house, this could easily be adapted into a stage play. As such, the tight confines play a role in the tension that forms between the characters. Mistrust takes root and runs rampant when Dumars and Byrne have intense conversations just out of earshot of the others, while past instances in which small lies or slights occurred suddenly loom large in their paranoid minds.
A riff on “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” the film becomes something of a character study, as each officer questions not only their co-workers’ motives and intent, but their own. The reasons Baptiste and Salazar voice regarding pocketing just a bit of the cash are morally sound enough in their world of gray to justify their pocketing a few bucks. And what with the personal losses all of them have endured, would it be so wrong for these public servants to be made whole, at least financially?
That we come to sympathize with them is a tribute to the veteran cast’s efforts and the smart script. While the film gets bogged down a bit by two extended action sequences, its clever narrative switchbacks soon push them to the side. Once the third act reveal occurs and we’re privy to the real reason behind this house call, you’ll likely give Carnahan and his crew of tip of the hat. Smartly executed, “The Rip’s” plot twists hold water, putting all that’s come prior in a different perspective, revealing just who the “good guys” are, a label increasingly hard to uphold in its dark world of pain and temptation.
3 Stars
