10 Thrilling Movies To Watch if You Love Netflix's 'The Rip'

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Lieutenant Dane Dumars and Det Sergeant JD Byrne inspecting something in uniform with flashlights in The Rip.

Published Jan 26, 2026, 7:20 PM EST

Kareem is a veteran editor and writer with over 15 years of experience covering all forms of entertainment, from music to movies. He serves as a High Trending List Writer for Collider, covering all things TV. His work has been seen in numerous online publications such as FanSided, AXS, Examiner, Narcity, HuffPost, and ScreenRant.

He first began his professional writing career in 2011 writing political columns for HubPages, gradualaly building his portfolio until he was rewarded with his first paid writing position with News Headquarters in 2013. Since then, Kareem has covered everything imaginable, from writing political news columns for Examiner, reviewing the latest albums for AXS.com, and giving a unique take on sports, food, and the entertainment industry for Fansided.com. He had another online stop at Narcity, covering travel and things to do in his native Florida, before finally bringing his uniquely immense writing talent and voice to Valnet in 2020, first as a List Writer for ScreenRant before taking his talents to Collider in 2021.

During his time at Collider, Kareem has showcased his talented writing style on a number of beats, trailer previews (DOTA: Dragon's Blood) to season premiers (Abbott Elementary), to Lists ranking everything from 80s Sitcoms (which holds a special place in his heart), to classic Disney Channel shows.

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He calls Orlando, FL home.

So, imagine you're a police officer, and your team just raided a house containing an illegal cash operation. You and your team look at what’s going on, and discover that there's a lot of money in this raid — life-changing money. So, what do you do? Do you do your job and take in all the cash as evidence? Or, do you decide to pocket some of that cash for yourself, given that no one truly knows how much money is in the home. The choice is yours.

This is the central plot for the 2026 Netflix action thriller The Rip, directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as two Miami-Dade cops who find the trust within their narcotics unit is broken as they start to suspect each other of who took a large amount of money during a raid of an illegal cash stash house. Believe it or not, The Rip is based on an actual true story. Back in 2016, officer Chris Casiano, who was the leader of the Miami-Dade Police Department's Narcotics team, raided a home that had five barrels with over $21 million stashed in them.

While The Rip does take some liberties from the original story, it is, no less, a riveting movie that is a hallmark to the action thrillers of yesteryear. Honestly, this could have been a theatrical release, but, nevertheless, The Rip is a movie that will keep action thriller fans satisfied. If you're still craving some good, old-fashioned thrillers, then these movies should do the trick.

1 'Cop Land' (1997)

Robert De Niro talking to Sylvester Stallone who is in a sheriff's uniform in Cop Land.

One huge theme in The Rip is the moral dilemma police officers face when they're dealing with a colleague that isn't operating in the same constitutional guardrails as everyone else. What do you do when the bad guys you chase for a living are part of the same side? That "blue conflict" has been a vexing issue in numerous movies over the years, and was expected to be a problem in the underrated 1997 film Cop Land.

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Cop Land follows a small town New Jersey sheriff who begins to come into conflict with a group of corrupt NYPD police officers; and when we say these cops are corrupt to the core, we mean it. Stallone was great, as usual, as the lead, bringing that wholesome, everyman persona to the fight off the group of bad cops led by Lieutenant Ray Donlan (Harvey Keitel). While it did solid at the box office during its initial release, Cop Land has fallen into relative obscurity, until now.

2 'Assault on Precinct 13' (1976)

Two men and a woman looking at a cop in Assault on Precinct 13.

There is something about movie posters from the 1970s that, as soon as you see them, makes you want to drop everything and run out to the movie theater. They are so cool, so original, and so vivid, that they even elevate the bad movies of the decade to “must-watch” status. One poster that really caught our eye was the one for John Carpenter's 1976 classic Assault on Precinct 13, with the tagline reading in all-caps: "A WHITE-HOT NIGHT OF HATE!" Who wouldn't want to go see this movie?

Filmed on only a $100,000 budget, this independent action-thriller is considered one of Carpenter's best works. The movie follows a police officer (Austin Stoker) who has to fend off a gang of criminals that is hellbent on revenge after the LAPD kills six members of the Street Thunder gang. That revenge is played out at the recently decommissioned Precinct 13, and the action is palpable throughout. You truly get a sense that our protagonist may not make it out of this station alive, and the atmosphere is full of heightened tension.

3 'Code of Silence' (1985)

Chuck Norris without a shirt points and talks to Mike Genovese in Code of Silence, 1985.

In 1985, Chuck Norris was having quite the year. He stopped an invasion of the American homeland, and then had to stop a gang of corrupt cops in the underrated neo-noir action thriller Code of Silence. Directed by Andrew Davis, Code of Silence follows Norris as Sergeant Eddie Cusack, who, after a failed sting operation results in a deadly shootout between a gang and the Chicago police, Cusack refuses to support a cop who murdered an innocent bystander.

Oh, it gets better. Not only that, but he also has to protect the daughter of a mob boss (Molly Hagan) after her father is killed, and bring the criminals to justice. This would have been too much to handle for any other cop, but for Chuck Norris, it's basically a Tuesday for him. He fights off his enemies with that typical '80s badassery that we all know and love, and Code of Silence is, easily, one of the decade's best action-thrillers.

4 'Hot Fuzz' (2007)

"Mornin'." That one word ushered in one of the best (and most hilarious) shootouts in movie history. That shootout between Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) and his partner Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) against an entire corrupt English village will forever live rent-free in the minds of everyone who watched the 2007 buddy cop action comedy Hot Fuzz.

As the second part of the Three Flavours Cornetto movie trilogy, Hot Fuzz finds Pegg's Nicholas Angel as a former London cop whose extreme proficiency makes the rest of his department look bad. So, as a "reward" for his stellar performance, he gets re-assigned to a West Country village where things aren't as cheery and quiet as they seem. Hot Fuzz greatly exceeded expectations with its delicate mix of comedy and action, bringing them both together to make one of the best action movies of the modern era. Hot Fuzz will be a nice change up from the serious nature of The Rip, while still keeping the action dialed at 11.

5 'Magnum Force' (1973)

Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan standing at a marina looking at someone off screen in Magnum Force.

In 1970s San Francisco, the city's criminals were on edge, knowing that a maverick cop with a .44 Magnum was out there looking to take them to the slammer. That cop was Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), or, as we call him, "Dirty Harry," and in 1973, he had to take on a group of vigilante cops in the classic neo-noir action-thriller Magnum Force. Directed by Ted Post, Magnum Force follows our favorite cop as he looks to dispense the city of a group of SFPD officers looking to dispense with their own version of "street justice."

While many will declare that 1971's Dirty Harry is the quintessential film of the franchise, Mangum Force was sharper, faster, and more thrilling than its predecessor, with a grimmer, darker premise that looked at how cops view criminals who evade justice, and how vigilantism can be idolized to a dangerous effect. Dirty Harry may have had the cooler quotes, but Magnum Force had the better storyline, and is a great watch for any action-thriller fans.

6 'Heat' (1995)

Michael Mann has long had a panache for bringing a unique style to the typical crime story that captivates and mesmerizes its audience. While Miami Vice is the standard-bearer for the "Mann Style" of crime dramas and thrillers, it was 1995's Heat that ultimately stands as his magus opus. Starring the two most iconic movie stars of our generation, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Heat is a neo-noir crime thriller that grabs your attention from the opening credits, and doesn't let up not once inch until the final credits roll.

This classic movie took the standard "cat-and-mouse" trope of crime films and dialed it to 20, complete with compelling dialogue, and an ending that will actually tug on the heartstrings a little bit. While Heat is technically a crime drama, there were plenty of thrilling moments that will have you on the edge of your seat. Many have called Heat one of the best and most influential crime dramas in movie history, and we will not argue with that sentiment.

7 'Sicario' (2015)

Emily Blunt as Kate stands in tactical gear while looking concerned in Sicario.

While a lot of Americans may see fighting the Mexican drug cartels as a "good-vs-evil" affair, it isn't quite that simple. There's a lot of moving parts that go into fighting off a drug cartel, and some of this may not be above board. Just ask Emily Blunt's Kate Macer, an FBI special agent who is tasked with joining a government task force to bring down a powerful and ruthless drug cartel in the 2015 classic Sicario.

Sicario pulled the curtain back on some of the tactics that were being used to fight the "war on drugs," and we watched with painstaking horror when Kate learned that the mission wasn't about bringing these drug criminals to justice, but by enforcing chaos to control the drug trade. There was a lot of dark, gritty realism in Sicario that makes it hard to watch at times; but if action thrillers are your thing, this movie should definitely be on your watchlist.

8 'Den of Thieves' (2018)

Big Mike (Gerard Butler) leads the team in Den Of Thieves (2018).

The morality of a law enforcement officer has long been a fascination in both television and movies. While Hollywood has a long track record of portraying the cops as "white knights" who protect their jurisdictions from the bad guys, in recent years, we've seen a rise of movies that showed the police in a different light, one in which it may be hard to justify the ends that meet the means. This is especially true in the 2018 action thriller Den of Thieves.

Starring Gerard Butler, the movie follows an elite unit within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office who clashes with a gang of bank robbers who also happen to be ex-military officers. We see the unit do things that will definitely have you asking "Is this even legal?," and the movie does a solid job showcasing how cops can sometimes blur the line between right and wrong in their pursuit of justice.

9 'Narc' (2002)

Jason Patric and Ray Liotta arguing outdoors with snow behind in Narc.

You're a police detective, and you and your partner are tasked with the investigation of an undercover cop. The point of the investigation should be to find the person who did it, right? Black and white, open-and-shut. But, the more you investigate, the more it pulls you to do things that you would normally not do, and uncover secrets about your partner you wish you didn't know.

That's the central plot to the 2002 film Narc, an underappreciated neo-noir crime thriller starring Jason Patric and Ray Liotta. This movie is not an easy watch. You'll get a sense of unease the further you get into the movie, and the friendship between the two detectives begins to become strained. However, the tension in this film is simply palpable, and the movie pays off at the end. Narc has become a forgotten relic of 2000s cinema, but if you dare to unearth this hidden gem, you'll be happy you did.

10 'Training Day' (2001)

Denzel Washington looking confident in Training Day (2001).

"King Kong ain't got s–t on me!" That line, that memorable monologue from corrupt LAPD narcotics detective Alonzo Harris pretty much sealed the Oscar for Denzel Washington. His portrayal of a detective who lost his morals of what it means to be a cop was one of the most memorable performances in movie history, and it was a large part of why Training Day is widely regarded as one of the best crime thrillers of all-time.

While we gush over Washington's performance as Alonzo Harris, we certainly can't forget about the spectacular performance of Ethan Hawke, who portrayed Jake Hoyt, the officer who was riding with Alonzo during his fateful training day as a narcotics agent. Training Day, directed by Antoine Fuqua, explored the difference between the influence of corruption within a police department, which only further exacerbated the systematic issues with policing as a whole. Even if you're not into the issues it sets out to highlight, Training Day is just so entertaining. For a while, you're actually cheering on Alonzo, enthralled by his charismatic presence and his knowledge of how to do narcotics work on the gritty streets of inner-city Los Angeles. But as the movie goes along, we see his charismatic personality morph into something more terrifying, and we generally become concerned for Hoyt's safety, and if he'll even survive the day. If you love The Rip (and you should), you will absolutely fall in love with Training Day.