In the world of law enforcement, a “rip” is a seizure of criminal assets, typically money, weapons, or drugs. Like its namesake, it’s a fast-moving operation whose main objective is to get in and get out with as much stuff as possible before trouble explodes. Of course, criminals don’t find much humor in the irony of being robbed, so the job requires the toughest and bravest (“foohlhardy” would be the more correct word) from the police force. During those raids, adrenaline is pumping, and alluring substances are being grabbed. Add a ticking clock on top of that, and you never know what exactly is going to go down.

Director Joe Carnahan’s The Rip boasts the tagline: “Count the money. Count it again. Count on no one.” The money is located in a stash house in Hialeah, a city just northwest of Miami, graced with bullet holes on each of its welcome signs. A tip came in to Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) about $150,000 being hidden for the cartel by a girl named Desi (Sasha Calle). But once Dane and his team - JD (Ben Affleck), Mike (Steven Yeun), Numa (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo (Catalina Sandino Moreno) - make their way through the house, they find out that $150,000 hasn’t been stashed, but $20 million. What was once a routine bust-up on a Friday afternoon before a well-earned weekend has become an all-night standoff. This unit is a family, but even a bond within a family can be tested by that amount of money.

Carnahan got his start with seedy cops and criminals with 2002’s Narc, a theme that has continued in the two decades since with Smokin’ Aces and Copshop. He was also part of the screenwriting team for Bad Boys for Life, also a Miami-set story of cops getting in way over their heads. But instead of living the lives of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as they exchange one-liners while cruising down Ocean Drive, Damon and Affleck are being pitted against each other under the guise of ulterior motives and opportunities. Aflfeck’s character was in a relationship with the police captain, whose unexpected murder left a vacant job opening that Damon took. Now with $20 million on the line, questions that were left unspoken are now being asked out loud.

This is a story (loosely) inspired by true events, something that Carnahan and co-writer Michael McGrale use as an opportunity to highlight the moral complexities within police work. As part of the murder investigation over the captain’s murder, everyone is brought in for questioning. Feathers get ruffled as silent accusations are made as to how this was allowed to happen. Add in the fact that this job also requires a willingness to be shot at on a daily basis, and you could understand the temptation to want a little more. After all, is it illegal to steal from criminals? It’s not like they earned this money through honest work, and definitely won’t use it to pay for medical bills, mortgages, and everything else that makes life an everyday grind.

With a cast full of Oscar-nominated talent (or soon to be in the case of Taylor) and a director who tends to lean into the grunge, it’s interesting to watch this whodunnit yarn unspool across the humid night. As expected, Damon and Affleck carry a natural ease with each other, a forty-year friendship that’s been through thick and thin. The former is sporting a bit more grey than usual, possibly a bit of foreshadowing for the journey he’s about to take for Christopher Nolan in this summer’s The Odyssey. The latter gets a brief moment to show off his chiseled torso, perhaps a leftover element from his time as The Caped Crusader. Everyone else feels a bit underserved, stock characters that move from one room to another.

It all gets too big and silly for its own good, relying on “Gotcha!” reveals to piece every loose thread together. It probably won’t hold up to any sort of scrutiny, but that’s not the kind of thing Netflix wants to serve, even going so far as to replay portions of earlier scenes and repeat important details so that no viewer can be totally lost. All of the actors and characters made a lot of money for this, but I don’t feel much richer from the experience.