The Rip Ending Explained: Who Was the Traitor? | Radio Times

(Warning! The following article contains major spoilers for The Rip.)

The latest film from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's production company is The Rip, a crime thriller written and directed by The A-Team's Joe Carnahan. As well as producing, old friends Affleck and Damon both star in the movie as high-ranking police officers in Miami's Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT).

Loosely based on a true story, The Rip follows the TNT as they raid a stash house – but far from finding drugs, the team discovers a huge pile of hard cash. However, all is not as it seems. With members of the TNT keen to steal the money for themselves, and an unclear level of cartel involvement, a battle in the suburbs surrounding the stash house ensues.

At the centre of the film is the murder of Jackie Velez – a TNT Captain who gave the tip-off on the house in the first place. This sets the main events of the plot in motion, as the entire set-up of the stash house is revealed to be bait to discover which police officers had been stealing from house busts.

Packed with action and thrills (you can read our review of The Rip here), the movie can even feel a little overcrowded when it comes to just how many twists and turns there are. So, if you're still confused after watching the film, read on for our easy explanation of what really happened.

Who was the traitor in The Rip?

The two main cops in the movie are Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) and his closest ally on the force, Detective Sergeant JD Byrne (Affleck), who was in a relationship with Jackie (Lina Esco) until her murder.

When the pair discover that Desi (Sasha Calle), who they find in a stash house filled with cartel money, is not just a guard for the money but an informant who had previously worked with Jackie, they realise that they need to use the set-up to find out where the corruption lies.

For a huge chunk of the movie, it looks like Lieutenant Dane Dumars (Damon) is planning to rob the house himself and then split the money (somewhere in the tens of millions of dollars) with the rest of the force. However, it is later revealed that this is all part of the plan to draw out the real corrupt officer. Everybody involved is ordered to hand in their phones to ensure that no contact was made with anyone outside the group.

During a ride in the back of an armoured vehicle, where Dane, JD, Detective Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), and DEA Agent Matty Nix (Kyle Chandler) are apparently transporting the millions to a DEA bank, it is revealed that Mike had a secret burner phone which had been used to contact Matty. These two were the pair who wanted to steal the cash.

Dane had worked this out because he had secretly given a different total value of the money to each member of the team, and the number he had told Mike was the same one that was later mentioned by the mysterious caller who turned out to be Matty.

With this information, it is then confirmed that Matty (with Mike on his side) was also the agent who killed Jackie. With pretty much her last act, she had sent him the tip about the money in the house before she was killed, with Mike and Matty murdering her to keep her quiet so they could continue with their plan of carrying out the heist.

The final twist is that none of the $20 million was ever on board the DEA van – all the money had remained at the house. The DEA confirms that the right amount of cash is there, gives Desi her 20% cut for co-operating, and Dane and JD end up being able finally to relax on the beach as they memorialise Jackie. All's well that ends well.

The Rip is streaming now on Netflix.

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