The Rip

Elaboration:

Dread:
There's a part where the one cop is looking down the street. No cars, no lights. And the lights come on one by one, then there's some morse code with a porch light, and it's really ominous and like horror thrown into a non-horror movie.

And that's a good example of when the The Rip is at its best. This is exemplified in the first half or so, when the plot is unfolding in such a way that it makes you feel like the cops are really in for a shit-kicking, or at the very least, a bad time. We don't know who's coming. We just know that someone calls and says, "get out in 30 minutes or you're going to die," and it's a little scary. It's not rolling down the streets of Mexico in Sicario, Villeneuvian dread, but it's on its way.

Then the second half happens, and I saw a critic say that it falls into sentimentality, so I copped that. It's true. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was until I saw that, and it really is that the movie goes down a predictable route where, oh look, Damon is actually a great guy who set this all in motion, and the cops are mostly good guys.

And I don't hate cops. I don't need them all to be bad. But it sets up one thing and cleans up way too cleanly. And after a beginning where it felt like shit was going to hit the fan... I mean, there's a brief shootout and then, what? A car chase that's okay, a fist fight that isn't much of anything, and then the twist that Damon was on the level.

I want to reiterate: it's still a good movie. The second half did not tank the movie. But I was REALLY into this in the first half, and I wish it had gone differently. I think I would have downed the score more though if it wasn't still Affleck and Damon, who obviously have great chemistry.