The Rip – Movie Review

TL;DR – This is a film that purposely wades into the murky world of drugs, money, and crooked cops. You will never know when the bullets will start flying, but you know for a certainty that someone is going to be shot before the closing credits.   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that screened this film.

A cop cruiser approaches at night.

The Rip Review Introduction

Today, we look at a film that is trying to do something different in the streaming space, trying an experiment to re-add residuals back into a system that has systematically ripped them out of the industry. But while the backend mechanics of the film are very fascinating, that doesn’t mean much if the film lacks any substance. That means it is time to have a look and see if it has some depth to it.  

So, to set the scene, we open with Captain Jackie Velez (Lina Esco) of Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) in Miami getting gunned down in a car park. This sends ripples through the force and agitates Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) and Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Ben Affleck) as Internal Affairs and the Feds are looking at everyone at the TNT. There is money on the line, and where there is money, there is potential for corruption. All the cops in the department are feeling the pinch, but one of their own just got murdered, and no one seems to care. But when the police are tipped off to a massive stash of cash, everyone’s loyalties will be tested, because what if IA is right and one of them is dirty?   

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The Flash – Movie Review

TL;DR – Through all its pre-production issues, the final product is a blast of fun, but I am not sure it would have the staying power on repeat watches.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

The Flash running at speed.

The Flash Review

We are entering quite a tricky period for Superhero films. While they have been the dominant media property over the last decade, the shine is starting to come off the genre. While we will probably not see the great Western collapse again, how many players does the industry have room for? Can you still engage with a property you know is about to be rebooted? And can multiverses still work? These are some of the questions we will look at with our review of The Flash today.

So to set the scene, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is living his life as part of the Justice League, but not as a leading figure as we see when Alfred (Jeremy Irons) calls him up before his morning breakfast to help clean up some of Batman’s (Ben Affleck) mess in Gotham City. But while he is very good at catching babies, the main issue in his life is trying to get his father, Henry (Ron Livingston), out of jail. He is serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, and Barry’s mother, Nora (Maribel Verdú), something Barry knows his dad did not do, but no one listened to him because he was just a kid at the time. In his frustration, Barry runs so fast that he breaches the speed of light and begins to transverse back and forwards in time, and surely nothing bad can happen from that.  

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