It has been over three decades now, and as far as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are concerned, their friendship has consistently won out. The pair are the best of buds, and after coming together to make Good Will Hunting, there has not been any stopping them since. Since the 1997 drama, Damon and Affleck have teamed up to deliver a significant number of titles, some incredible and others not so much. From Jersey Girl in the mid-2000s to the biographical sports drama Air, the pair have collaborated on several pictures.
In 2022, Damon and Affleck took their friendship and collaboration one step further by founding Artists Equity, an independent artist-led studio. Through this vehicle, the pair expanded their portfolio with a number of titles, including the aforementioned Air, The Instigators, Unstoppable, and The Accountant 2. The 2026 crime thriller, The Rip, came via that same pipeline and starred both actors in leading roles in what became a compelling by-the-book cop drama that has since gone on to become a global streaming sensation. Directed by Joe Carnahan, the action-thriller bypassed the theatrical release completely, going straight to streaming, and did so with great success. Within days, The Rip sat at the top spot of Netflix’s global top 10 list.
The Rip’s emergence on Netflix was record-breaking as it garnered the streamer its biggest feature opening since last year’s Happy Gilmore 2. Months since its release, the action thriller is setting even more records, according to a new report. Thanks to a unique deal negotiated by Affleck and Damon’s Artists Equity, it has been revealed that the streamer has paid out a performance bonus to the cast and crew of The Rip. While Netflix usually pays just an upfront fee for its original titles, Artists Equity negotiated a deal that sees the filmmakers score a bonus should the movie meet viewership thresholds. “We built Artists Equity on the belief that filmmakers should share in the value they bring to a project,” said Affleck and Damon in a statement. “…We’d also like to thank Netflix for their belief in this project and the unique structure around it.”
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
The Rip follows a Tactical Narcotics Team operating as part of the Miami Police Department, who discover a massive stash of cartel cash during a raid. The bust is so substantial that it triggers a moral crisis as team members begin to suspect each other of wanting to steal the money. Besides Damon and Affleck, the cast includes Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, Kyle Chandler, Steven Yeun, Scott Adkins, and Catalina Sandino Moreno, among others. The Rip is an exciting watch, with unexpected twists and turns at every turn. The feature’s cast all deliver tense, thrilling performances that keep you both excited and thoroughly engaged. In his review, Collider’s Robert Brian Taylor writes:
“The characters in The Rip do speak a certain way and carry themselves in a manner that feels true to the dingy, dangerous world it builds out. The story it’s all in service of likely wouldn’t support a two-plus-hour film, but, thankfully, The Rip cuts to credits right at the hour-and-45-minute mark. Just like the T.N.T. itself, this movie wants to get in, get the job done without complication, and get out before it overstays its welcome. On that front, The Rip is solid enough to earn a mild recommendation.”
The Rip is streaming on Netflix. Stay tuned to Collider for updates.
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Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne
Detective Numa Baptistie