Netflix releases ‘most entertaining film of the year’ today and it’s only January

The director of Netflix’s latest movie has promised fans will be thoroughly engrossed by its twists and turns, calling it the ‘most entertaining film of the year’ despite acknowledging we’re only weeks into 2026.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Hollywood’s favourite besties, have teamed up once more for crime thriller The Rip as Miami cops who are part of team that discover a stash of what looks to be $20million (£14.8m) in a safehouse.

They must count the money before they can leave the scene, but also have to survive the night as suspicion sets in.

‘I don’t think there’s a more entertaining film you’re going to see this year. I don’t, I really don’t,’ promises writer-director Joe Carnahan to Metro.

‘And that it’s January and we just kicked the year off? This is the way to get it going and started with some velocity and some propulsion.’

The film is based on a true story from one of Carnahan’s friends, a real-life narcotics policeman who took part in the actual ‘rip’ it’s based on – which is Miami cop slang for ‘taking the bad guy’s stuff’, like cash, drugs or weapons, otherwise known as ‘ripping’ it.

‘In real life you have to you have to count the money twice on the scene, which took them in the actual story 42 hours! We couldn’t make a 42-hour movie, so obviously we took some dramatic liberties, creative liberties,’ Carnahan adds of the magnitude of this particular seizure.

Damon leads the group as Lieutenant Dane Dumars, recently promoted, while Affleck is his friend and colleague, Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne – and they left the casting choice up to Carnahan.

‘I always saw Matt as Dumars and I always saw Ben as J.D., so that was an easy [decision] and I think they would have been fine either way, which is great! They were just game to do it,’ he says of the stars, who also produced this film through their company, Artists Equity.

‘It’s the biggest film of my career, for sure,’ adds Carnahan, who previously worked with Affleck on Smokin’ Aces and also co-wrote and directed the 2010 film remake of The A-Team starring Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper, as well as writing Bad Boys for Life.

‘The most gratifying part of it is you get to work with people you really love and respect. At my age – I’m not tied to the stone quite yet – but I’m in my 50s and I don’t have the patience or the temerity to sit around and deal with attitude and bad behaviour and so on.

‘You have the top of the top with these guys, just the most amazing group of people.’

Carnahan also reckons fans will be ‘very pleased’ by the film – especially due to its repeat watchability thanks to how the plot unfolds.

‘Hopefully when it’s all said and done, they want to go back and see how the sausage was made and look at the movie in a different perspective because now they know,’ he enthuses. ‘And they’ll see the things that we intended them to see on second viewing.’

The Rip has debuted on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes to a solid 82%, being praised by critics as ‘one of Netflix’s most confidently cinematic thrillers in recent memory’ and ‘a classic who done it, or who is doing it, or who thinks who is doing it’.

It co-stars Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor, Kyle Chandler, Steven Yeun, Sasha Calle and Catalina Sandino Moreno.

Talking with Metro, Sandino Moreno praised Damon and Affleck for their professionalism and shared that she ‘never saw them as producers, when they come onto set they’re actors’.

‘They’re so kind, so lovely, so welcoming. They create a safe space for everyone,’ adds Calle. ‘I think they picked a great name [for their company] and followed suit, they want everyone to feel equal and you can really feel that on their sets.’

Sandino Moreno plays Detective Lolo Salazar, part of the specialised TNT unit (Tactical Narcotics Team), and got guidance from a real-life TNT officer, Lourdes, who the actress ‘would trust with my life at any second because she’s the best’.

She also enjoyed getting the chance to handle and shoot guns on set.

‘It was so much fun because Joe loves it, so we shot it many, many times,’ she shares. ‘In real-life I will never touch a gun but in movies you’re shooting blanks to a wall, there’s no one to get hurt. It’s just like, let’s play.’

Co-star Calle, who is known for playing Supergirl in 2023’s The Flash, also relished getting to talk to her co-star in Spanish.

‘Because we’re both Colombian and [when] we hear each other speak, you can kind of clock it from another room and it feels very homey.’

She plays the ‘more fictional’ character of Desi in this film, the woman at home when the police come knocking, but appreciated how her role still felt like a real person.

‘We were all written to move the story, but it wasn’t like, who’s bigger than the other person, it was just an ensemble cast and we all loved being together.

‘It’s beautiful to walk into a space where every character has their importance and has their drive.’

The Rip is streaming exclusively on Netflix now.

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