Netflix And Chill: The Rip (2026)

While I knew that I would make a viewing of The Rip a priority because of it co-starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in lead roles, I was pleased to find out that it was directed and written by Joe Carnahan. Carnahan may not be working at the level that he once was, but the guy still delivers some decent entertainment.

Everything here begins with the death of Captain Jackie Velez (Lina Esco). This leads to her team being questioned, with nobody above suspicion. Things then get even trickier for the team when they're tipped off about a stash house, and soon discover that they're going to have to count and keep safe an amount of money that exceeds $20M. If ever there was a temptation for someone who wasn't hestitant to kill a police Captain, this should expose any traitors in the midst of the group.

Inspired by a true story, which was worked on by Carnahan and Michael McGrale, there's nothing here in the by-the-numbers plotting that should displease those who know what they're in for. The twists and turns are predictable, but also satisfying. The main cast members all look very capable while waving their guns around through the clouds of testosterone. Okay, there aren't really any memorable action set-pieces, but the rest of the film plays out as expected, and the story ultimately proves better for the focus on intelligence and mistrust ahead of fights and gunplay.

Damon and Affleck are a proven combo, they're the mac & cheese of millenial blockbuster stars (which I mean as a compliment, although I am sure others will use the same analogy as an insult), and they work as well as ever here. Damon is the one in charge, and the more level-headed one of the two, perhaps due to having a different view of the unfolding situation, but he's also under as much, if not more, suspicion than anyone else in the team. Steven Yeun gets a decent amount to do, Teyana Taylor continues to impress now that she seems to have been finding better roles for her talent, and Catalina Sandino Moreno is, well, there. She's fine, but not really given anything to do. Sasha Calle is very good as the young woman who has her home raided while hoping to skip and dance through some grey legal areas to avoid arrest, Kyle Chandler is a DEA agent who might return in time to help or hinder our leads in the third act, and Scott Adkins has a good time with his role, playing Affleck's brother.

The screenplay may not be stuffed with memorable dialogue, but it works for what the film wants to do. What doesn't work is the visual style (or lack of) throughout. I'm sorry to say, but cinematographer Juanmi Azpiroz presents everything in a horribly murky mix of muted blues and something akin greyscale. I assume this wasn't necessarily his choice, nor the result of his work alone, but I'm naming him as the main culprit because it's the worst aspect of the film and he should have looked through his viewfinder and convinced everyone else to do a lot better.

There are other good things about this, but they tend to be tied to the production and profit-sharing model put in place by Damon and Affleck. What's actually in the movie itself is decidedly average, all things considered. It could have been elevated by another one or two passes on the script and a few more meetings about getting the visuals improved, while keeping everything in line with the aesthetic that Carnahan wanted.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Back In Action (2025)

A Netflix action comedy that stars Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz, the latter coaxed back out of retirement for it, Back In Action is the kind of glossy entertainment that seems designed to upset cinephiles while entertaining many who just want an easy option to start watching on a Saturday night. While it is silly, and very slick, it's also quite a bit better than the trailer would have you think, thanks to some fun casting and enjoyable running gags.

Foxx and Diaz play Matt and Emily, a couple of talented spies who end up in a relationship. Their latest mission goes spectacularly awry just after Emily tells Matt that she is pregnant. They decide to get out of the spying game, knowing that both could be assumed dead anyway, and start over for the sake of a calm and normal family life. Fifteen years later, that seems to be happening. They have two children, Alice (McKenna Roberts) and Leo (Rylan Jackson), and no worries, aside from how their kids view them. Alice is in a bit of a rebellious teen phase. Leo enjoys his videogames and just embracing his nerdiness. Then there's an incident, and Matt and Emily end up being shown around the internet, which brings trouble to their doorstep. 

There are certain things that you can expect from this type of fare nowadays. It's very easy to spot who the villain is. There will always be someone shown in a bad light who has something in their history that puts a different spin on things. At least one big stunt sequence will make use of technology that can make it seem as if our main stars are actually in the thick of the action (I miss the days when you could point out the huge differences between actors and the stunt performers who would take over for the more dangerous moments). Oh, and everything set up in the opening sequence will be brought back into the plot for the third act.

Considering that standard checklist, Seth Gordon and Brendan O'Brien do a decent job on this screenplay. Gordon is also the director, another role he handles well, and this is a huge step up from his last feature, Baywatch (not counting the TV movie he did back in 2018, Dan The Weatherman). It's often generally amusing, if rarely outright hilarious, and the action beats are surprisingly well-done and satisfying, if a bit prone to repeating one particular tag-team move that the main characters enjoy utilising.

Foxx and Diaz have a great rapport together, and they feel equally suited to the spy action as they do to the moments of being fretting parents. They're so good together that it almost makes you forget the fact that, once again, they can never share an onscreen kiss (because this is mainstream movie entertainment, and the USA would still be shocked to see a loving relationship that has a black man and a white woman kissing one another - sad, but true). Roberts and Jackson both do well as the children who end up majorly surprised by the skills of their parents, although the latter has a ridiculous sub-plot that makes no sense, unfairly positions him as being superior to his sister in one important way, and ultimately goes nowhere. Kyle Chandler is someone I enjoy seeing in movies, and he's fine here as the "handler" named Chuck, Andrew Scott is a British agent who is in pursuit of our leads, but also has a bit of an obsession with Diaz's character, and there are a few scenes stolen by Glenn Close and Jamie Demetriou. I'm going to mention Demetriou again because he's the person who provides most of the biggest laughs in the movie.

There are some decent tunes throughout the soundtrack, as well as a suitable score from Christopher Lennertz, and the mix of action and humour remains consistently distracting enough to help you avoid picking at any plot holes, including a huge misunderstanding of just what the Thames Barrier is used for. I had a lot of fun with this while it was on. I'm unlikely to ever rewatch it, but at least it meets that bar set for undemanding Saturday night entertainment featuring stars being stars.

7/10

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Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (2019)

Oh boy, I was pumped for the latest big-screen outing for Godzilla. I fully bought into the hype. The trailer worked for me, advance word was that it made up for the lack of action in the previous American Godzilla movie, and knowing the other monsters were going to be getting some screentime had me practically salivating.

Reviews weren't always kind, however, when they started to appear. But there seemed to be a clear divide. Those who were happy with the monster fights, and those who seemed to miss the point and think that the failings elsewhere (poor script, thin characterisations) would bother Godzilla fans who went along to see a titanic smackdown.

I have to say that I am in the camp of those who seem to have missed the point, despite believing that I really do GET the point. I don't think a blockbuster of this type needs to have such poor writing or characterisation in place but I can overlook it if the action is pleasing enough. That wasn't the case here, for reasons I will delve into shortly.

The basic plot concerns a group of people who are using a machine to wake up the titans (giant monsters that are now known to the world, and being debated by governments). They have a plan to bring balance back to the planet. That plan goes out the window when King Ghidorah sets itself up as the apex predator and leader of the titans. This means that the only hope us puny humans have is Godzilla. If he can be put in the right place at the right time, and if he wants to help. Although other giant monsters are shown, this is a battle between Godzilla and King Ghidorah, with some nice set-pieces involving Rodan and Mothra, both separately and together. Which is enough to keep many fans very happy, especially with the quality of CGI on display.

Directed by Michael Dougherty, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Zach Shields, what we have here is a bloated disaster movie in the shape of a kaiju flick, and you can see the boxes marked off that particular checklist if you look out for them. The big opener and then standard scenes of character establishment, the one person who rallied against a certain invention that is now the cause of all their problems (in this case it's a way to kind of communicate with the titans), the tough decisions made about who can be helped and who must be left to die, and the moments of noble sacrifice. Although I almost daren't say his name in relation to another incarnation of Big G on film, this is almost more like a Roland Emmerich movie in terms of the structure and plotting. I do like Dougherty. I just think he got carried away here with the set-pieces and the opportunity to create visions bigger than anything he'd previously been able to get close to.

The human cast are a mixed bag. I really like Kyle Chandler, who plays the lead, a man personally invested in fixing the situation as he attempts to locate his ex-wife (Vera Farmiga) and his daughter (Millie Bobby Brown), both of whom are currently being dragged around the planet by the sorta-villain played by Charles Dance. Chandler ends up in a group that includes Sally Hawkins and Ken Watanabe, reprising their roles from the 2014 movie, Zhang Ziyi, Bradley Whitford, Aisha Hinds, and Thomas Middleditch. David Strathairn, CCH Pounder, Joe Morton, and O'Shea Jackson Jr also help to fill out the supporting cast, some for what seems like mere seconds of screentime.

What hurts everyone is the script, which just gets worse and worse as the film plays out. Character motivations seem murky, at best, any moments that are supposed to feel powerful and moving are exactly the opposite, and it's all weak filler in between the action beats.

And I understand that many others have been pleased by those action beats. They have been able to overlook the obvious failings elsewhere because, to them, this delivers the goods. It throws major devastation around onscreen as if it's making a statement in direct response to the Gareth Edwards movie (which I like more nowadays, the more I think about it). I just don't know how other people weren't bothered by sore eyes and headaches as I was. The action here is shot by people who just graduated from the Michael Bay School Of Making Every Frame Busy And Letting An Epileptic Octopus Be In Charge Of The Editing (that's a real school, honest). I have yet to be beaten into submission by any film that I have opted to see in the cinema, but I came perilously close to walking out of this one after being so pained by the first big fight between Godzilla and King Ghidorah. Overdo everything, make sure to add cloud and rain and debris

Look, I'm not completely oblivious to the charms of this movie. There are quite a few shots throughout that are stunning, in terms of scale and shot composition (and most of the scenes with Mothra are beautiful). And the idea of these giant creatures fighting is great, obviously. I'll also admit that the plotting works when it comes to the actual behaviours of the monsters. And every moment featuring Rodan is fantastic. There's also a superb score by Bear McCreary. But none of these things really make up for the fact that so much of the film is such a chaotic mess that it can cause actual pain.

And none of this negative take on the film has stopped me from pre-ordering it to check out again on a smaller screen (where I might end up actually enjoying it slightly more, being able to enjoy the scale and effects without feeling over-stimulated by the busy visuals and noise).

4/10
Upgraded to 5/10 as I really cannot have it at the same lowly rating as the Emmerich movie.

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