I love the new Damon/Affleck Era. Other than the occasional Christopher Nolan flirtation, the two guys decided they just like hanging out with each other, and are gonna make more movies together. Sweet! And if the movies they churn out continue to be as good as Air or The Rip, then it’s gonna be a great time at the movies good will hunting. You’re welcome.
Damon plays Lieutenant Dane Dumars, and Affleck is his Sergeant JD Byrne, working in a narcotics division of Miami PD. After a botched job kills their Captain Jackie Velez (Lina Esco), the whole division comes under fire and intense interrogation, as the FBI suspects it might have been an inside job. Seed planted, not great as Dumars takes his team: JD, Detectives Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno) to the Hialeah neighborhood in an empty subdivision on a tip from the deceased Captain’s phone. The team convinces resident Desi Molina (Sasha Calle) to let them in, and for a ~$150K expected bust, they actually find $20 Million…a tasty prize for a compromised cop to, um, doctor, and skim a chunk off the rip.
Writer/Director Joe Carnahan has been doing movies like The Rip for a couple decades now. That set of sure hands allows Damon and Affleck to just sit back and cook. The opening 15 Carnahan let’s Damon/Affleck play on their personas, with Damon internalizing this distrust and Affleck going loose cannon and starting a fight with the FBI Agents, then meeting back up and sniping at each other about the bureaucracy that stifles their work. It’s effortless work from the two of them, talented best friends forever who luckily are both magnetic when on camera. Throw in incredible supporting players like Kyle Chandler’s DEA Agent, Yeun, Taylor, etc, and you’ve set the high floor for your cop movie, as everyone involved is overqualified and having a blast letting loose.
Then we get to the real fun stuff, where Carnahan shines. We clench up the minute the team hits the end of that long, eerily empty cul-de-sac. Once the score is uncovered, that tension ratchets up further as Dumars’s team realizes a rip like this is not only going to attract cartel attention, but maybe more scarily corrupt cop intervention: IF there’s a snitch among them. With a small team, Carnahan’s options are limited, but he does a good job misdirecting by letting us know danger is around every corner. There’s one horrifying sequence where the team turns around and green machine gun lights are all pointing their direction that made me jump a little. There’s of course crosses and double crosses, but at least Carnahan’s script has the characters execute them mostly smartly. The ending is too long and doesn’t fit the story we just watched, but at least it’s cathartic and gives us a beautiful beach shot.
So another win for Artist’s Equity and the Damon Affleck collabs. Here’s hoping this partnership brings more excited actors and crew around, making better and better buddy films for our boys. Obviously culminating in Good Will Hunting 2: Chucky’s Revenge, where Affleck voices the Chucky doll trying to kill Damon for leaving him in Boston. Sorry, I tried to let it rip. You’re welcome again.