Matt Damon and his platonic life-mate Ben Affleck have a new movie premiering on Netflix today called The Rip.
The film follows Damon and Affleck’s Miami-based cops who have to deal with fallout among their ranks after a bombshell discovery is made.
Watch With Us doesn’t like to pick favorites — we love Damon and Affleck equally.
For this list, we’ve decided to pick and rank our five favorite Matt Damon movies, from Oscar-winning movies like Oppenheimer to genre classics like The Talented Mr. Ripley.
5. ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ (1999)
Based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel of the same name, The Talented Mr. Ripley stars Damon as Tom Ripley, a con artist who worms his way into wealthy playboy Dickie Greenleaf’s (Jude Law) life. After traveling from New York to Italy to find Dickie on behalf of his father, Herbert (James Rebhorn), Ripley finds himself becoming dangerously obsessed with Dickie as he covets his opulent lifestyle.
Many films have copied the Talented Mr. Ripley recipe (Saltburn), but there’s nothing quite like this striking adaptation of Highsmith’s novel. The intelligent and twisty thriller is helmed by a pair of intoxicating performances from Damon and Law, in addition to Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour Hoffman. As Ripley, Damon has never been better or more chemleon-like — simultaneously needy, desperate and very dangerous.
4. ‘The Departed’ (2006)
South Boston police officer Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) goes undercover to take down local organized crime mafioso Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson). As Billy infiltrates the mob, career criminal Colin Sullivan (Damon) is ratting on the cops to his crime bosses. When both organizations discover they have a mole, it’s a race to be the first to uncover the other’s identity.
Martin Scorsese’s Best Picture-winning The Departed is actually adapted from a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs. This English-language remake features a stellar ensemble cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen, acting their butts off in a tense, thrilling screenplay by William Monahan. Fans of ultra-violent gangster flicks will have a great time with this classic.
3. ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ (2001)
Career thief Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is only twenty-four hours in prison when he’s already masterminding his next heist. Alongside his good friend Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) and professional pickpocket Linus Caldwell (Damon), Ocean concocts an epic crime that is set to rob not one, not two, but three elite Vegas casinos. Ocean will need all the help he can get, and so he recruits a top-notch team to pull of a scheme that will also happen to take down his ex-wife’s (Julia Roberts) new boyfriend (Andy García).
Ocean’s Eleven is one of the most entertaining heist films of all time and surpasses the original 1960 film that starred Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the rest of the Rat Pack. Stylish, fast-paced, funny and with a star-studded cast, Ocean’s Eleven is the best time you’ll ever have watching cool guys do slightly bad things.
2. ‘The Martian’ (2015)
When the crew of a mission to Mars blasts off from the planet during a dangerous dust storm, they accidentally leave behind Mark Watney (Damon) after he is presumed dead. Watney wakes up to find himself alone on a desolate, hostile planet with limited resources, but he manages to maintain his optimism while his colleagues on Earth try desperately to bring him back home.
With direction from Ridley Scott (Alien) and an adapted screenplay from Drew Goddard (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), The Martian is a funny and touching comedy-drama sci-fi that wouldn’t be quite what it is without Damon’s masterful performance. The A-list supporting cast includes Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Chastain and Sebastian Stan, but The Martian is Damon’s show, and he doesn’t disappoint.
1. ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)
The invention of the atomic bomb gets the epic Christopher Nolan treatment in this Best Picture-winning biodrama that managed to sell out IMAX screens everywhere back in 2023. Oppenheimer follows the eponymous father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), from his college days to his recruitment by the US Army to build a weapon to stop the Nazis during World War II. The film takes a look at Oppenheimer’s personal and professional life using flashbacks and flash-forwards, as the brilliant physicist’s lofty ambitions ultimately turn to moral conflict.
If you thought a movie about a bunch of guys talking in different rooms couldn’t be one of the most exciting modern films you will ever see, all you have to do is simply throw on Oppenheimer to be proven wrong. Three hours long but never boring, Oppenheimer turns your hum-drum biographical drama into something riveting, artistic and gorgeously realized.
