Rating: C+
Dir: Joe Carnahan
Star: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stephen Yuen, Scott Adkins
a.k.a. Cops Yelling: The Movie. Or perhaps it just seems that way, because nobody here seems to use their inside voice. However, it’s still decently entertaining, in a “Saturday night and I just want something mindless” way. It unfolds in south Florida, though outside of the opening shot, there’s not much sense of place. The Tactical Narcotics Team is coming under heavy scrutiny for suspected corruption after the captain is charge is shot dead. Her lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) gets a tipoff – source: trust me, bro – and leads his team on a raid of a house, only to find twenty million dollars hidden in an attic (the titular “rip”). This poses a number of dilemmas.
Dumars, for example, is curiously averse to calling it in. Reasonable caution, given the corruption thing? Or an indication he has other plans for the haul? Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Affleck) is certainly leaning toward the latter explanation. Similar uncertainty applies to the rest of the team and the life-changing volume of cash. The owners of the money discover the police presence, and give them thirty minutes to walk away. You will not be surprised to learn they do not, in fact, walk away. You should also be aware that Scott Adkins’s role in proceedings is small and mostly peaceful (not in the CNN sense either). He plays Byrne’s brother, an FBI agent digging into the situation at the TNT, much to JD’s distaste. Between this and Day Shift, I’m happy Adkins is part of Netflix’s supporting roster.
There’s a good hour here, and it’s when they are in the house. The section before that is rather unfocused. The death of the captain feels abrupt (she proves remarkably bullet-resistant, if not -proof), and there’s a jumble of characters hurled at the viewer. Meanwhile, after the squad leave, we enter blandly generic action movie territory, with fist-fights, shoot-outs and chases, both in vehicles and on foot. It’s much better in the close confines of the house, with paranoia and suspicion gradually ramping up, until nobody trusts anybody. There’s a point where Detective Mike Ro (Yuen) is walking down the street outside the house, and you’ll be sure he’s getting a bullet in the back.
It’s nice to see Damon and Affleck working together again: they’re the Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee of contemporary urban thrillers. Carnahan, too, has certainly come a long way since Blood Guts Bullets & Octane. Probably inevitably, the Netflix sausage machine has knocked off the rough edges of personality, in favour of smooth, slick and ultimately forgettable product. Though, as ever, the “based on real events” tag is more marketing than reality. In truth? Miami-Dade cops once found an unexpectedly large amount of cash in a house, and got a bit nervous. That’s it. Restrain your expectations on this front, and most others, and you should be adequately amused.
This review is part of Project Adkins, covering the movies of Scott Adkins.