Directed by Joe Carnahan | Written by Carnahan and Michael McGrale | ▲▲▲1/2 | Netflix
The serious draw here would be writer-director Carnahan — purveyor of the finest tough-guy crime thrillers like Copshop and Boss Level — if it wasn’t for his producers and stars, the effortless A-List leading man power of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Beyond them, this strongly entertaining, hardboiled picture is plenty worth seeing, and you can even feel good about it for other reasons — Damon and Affleck, in their deal with Netflix, have arranged for a series of bonuses for the entire cast and crew if the film does well on the streaming giant. They’re not kidding with the name of their production shingle — Artists Equity.
Loosely based on the true story of a Miami-Dade cop who, with his Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT), executed a raid on a suburban home being used in the drug trade and expecting to find a few hundred grand of cash stashed in it, and ended up finding more than $20 million. Regulations have the team count the money on site, even as they start getting threatening calls, presumably from cartel dudes looking to kill them.
The enormous sum of cash also reveals genuine greed in the team, but not right away — we’re not sure who to trust among this sweaty group. Is Sgt. JD Byrne (Affleck) on the level? He’s a bit of a loose cannon, grieving over the murder of his colleague and lover. What about his brother (Scott Adkins), a Federal agent? Or his buddy, Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon)? Or the many other muy macho law enforcers played by Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Kyle Chandler? Then there’s the woman they find in the house (Sasha Calle), who claims she has no idea about any of the money — what’s her deal?
What this ends up being about, aside from greed, is integrity — a surprisingly heartwarming undercurrent for this noirish crime picture.
Carnahan is an old hand at b-movie suspense, and he delivers here in spades. The script also comes through with a terrific third act twist. Though the last 20 minutes is stuffed with some rote and flatly unimpressive shoot-em-up action, the picture still manages to deliver on most fronts. And full credit to Damon and Affleck, whose years of friendship brings a particular, authentic weight to their scenes together. Considering this and the excellent Air in 2024, I hope we see a lot more of the longtime buddies working together onscreen in the future.
