Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is certainly in his grump era, and he’s got some choice words about pandemic/post-pandemic era movies, but, at the same time, has been enthralled by a recent Netflix offering in the dirty cop thriller genre, which, in his mind, seems to buck a bunch of issues he has with other movies from the 2020s.
From the May 2026 issue of Sight & Sound Magazine (via BFI), Tarantino, acting as guest columnist for the industry outlet, is being critical about the current quality of modern films, but would go on to heap praise on both Joe Carnahan‘s Netflix crime thriller “The Rip” starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, which he hails as one of the few film exeperiences he’s enjoyed in recent years compariing it to the height of crime movies of the 1970s.
“Since the pandemic, for me anyway, it seems almost impossible for a new movie to come out that I don’t pick to death. Flaws, implausibilities, audience pandering, miscast performers, or just plain stupid shit usually torpedoes every new movie coming out of the flavourless sausage factory that used to call itself Hollywood. This isn’t the first time things were bad; the 1980s were pretty bad, too,” Tarantino said of the current era of releases in his guest column in Sight & Sound.
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“It’s been such a while since I saw a truly satisfying cop flick that I practically forgot what it felt like. ‘The Rip’ doesn’t just invoke that type of film fondly; it’s one of the finest examples. Set in Florida, it follows a five-person special unit of the Miami PD called the tactical narcotics team through the end of their working day and a nail-biting night that may leave them all shot to pieces. Their former Captain was assassinated execution-style by two ski mask-wearing shotgun-wielders at the film’s start, and the internal investigation that follows puts the whole team under suspicion. Joe Camahan’s ‘The Rip,’ starring the dynamic duo of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The film is an exciting cop thriller with a novel premise that manages to deliver the goods in really clever ways. The whole package worked for me: Carnahan’s direction, the splendid cast, the look of the film (courtesy of cinematographer Juan Miguel Azpiroz)-but the real powerhouse component of this splendid collection is the sensational screenplay by Carnahan and Michael McGrale.”
Carnahan and the cast should feel proud, given that Tarantino isn’t exactly known for throwing out praise like this, as he points out he’s not terribly thrilled by most releases coming to theatrical and streaming. That said, the latest Quentin Tarantino film, “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” a ’70s-set sequel to “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” (also happens to be on Netflix), has a script from him but was helmed by David Fincher as he finally got to reunite with longtime collaborator, Brad Pitt.
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