Quentin Tarantino Loved Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Gritty Thriller After Contempt for Modern Cinema

Quentin Tarantino has rarely hidden his disdain for the current era of filmmaking, but in a new essay written exclusively for Sight and Sound, the director found one recent release worth celebrating. After repeatedly expressing contempt for modern cinema, Tarantino was raving about how Joe Carnahan’s Netflix crime thriller, The Rip, affected him. He shared (via World of Reel):

The Rip, released on Netflix in January 2026, follows a group of Miami-Dade cops whose loyalties fracture after they discover roughly $20 million in cash inside a stash house. Written and directed by Carnahan and produced under Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Artists Equity banner, the movie is a gritty cop thriller that was made possible by the two stars’ decades-long friendship.

Tarantino’s praise stands out because so little has impressed him lately. The only other recent films he singled out were Steven Spielberg’s 2021 musical, West Side Story, and both chapters of Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga. Beyond these movies, he made it clear that the modern movie landscape leaves him cold.

Does The Rip Live Up to Quentin Tarantino’s High Praise?

While The Rip was a well-made thriller that received an okayish response, Quentin Tarantino’s enthusiasm, calling it “extraordinary”, is a stretch. Especially when he places it above all the other masterpieces released in the last few years. The film holds a respectable 77% on RT, with critics praising Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s easy chemistry and Carnahan’s pulpy execution.

While it is an entertaining watch, many would agree that the movie’s second half slips into fairly generic action. It’s a good Netflix thriller, but far from a modern classic. Many fans also raised issues with its somewhat shaky plot plausibility and a few cringey dialogues. Moreover, the movie would have never chosen to skip theaters if the makers believed they had a once-in-a-decade hit.

So why did it grip Tarantino so completely? It has everything to do with the filmmaker’s taste in movies. The Rip is consciously modeled on the gritty 1970s cop dramas like Michael Mann’s Heat, Serpico, and Prince of the City. These morally murkier movies are the ones that Tarantino reveres.

In one of the funnier moments from his Sight and Sound essay, Tarantino recalls a friend casually mentioning they had watched The Rip and thought it was just okay. He was left stunned that they were so underwhelmed by this movie.

Why Is Quentin Tarantino Unhappy With Modern Cinema?

Quentin Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs | Credits: Miramax Films

Quentin Tarantino rips apart modern cinema before he gives Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s cop drama a glowing recommendation. In the essay, he laid out just how bleak he finds the present moment in the movie industry. He shared that the state of cinema inspired “contempt” in him. Tarantino wrote:

However, we can’t agree with the legendary filmmaker fully. He is partially right, since the 2020s have produced some very formulaic movies, and the theaters favored franchise movies and reboots. We have had genuine duds like Madame Web and billion-dollar blunders like Jurassic World Dominion, which suggested a dip in quality.

But he is also wrong because Hollywood produced some great movies as well. Christopher Nolan’s biopic Oppenheimer almost hit a billion dollars at the box office, while we also failed to appreciate movies like The Last Duel, which also starred Tarantino’s favorite dynamic duo.

Great films are still being made, but sometimes audiences just don’t show up. The medium is shifting shape, and there is plenty left to love for Tarantino.

What do you think of Tarantino’s comment about The Rip? Let us know in the comments below!

The Rip is now available for streaming on Netflix.