(L-R) Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
On cinemas Now and streaming Apple TV+ August 9th is ‘The instigators,’ directed by Doug Liman and starring Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alfredo Molina, Ving Rhames, Paul Walter Hauser, Toby Jonesand Ron Perlman.
Related Article: First Look at Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in ‘The Instigators’ Photos
Initial thoughts
(L-R) Matt Damon and Casey Affleck promoting ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Doug Liman has not had a good experience in his chosen profession in recent years. The director’s last three works, ‘Chaos walking‘ ‘locked,’ and ‘Road houseAll of them have ranged from mediocre to unwatchable, a steep fall for the filmmaker who once brought us ‘The Age of Tomorrow‘ and ‘The Bourne IdentityHis latest film, the police comedy The Instigators, is not a great work, but it is considerably more entertaining than his previous films, although it has its own problems.
Much of the entertainment value comes from stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck (the latter also co-wrote the script with fellow American Chuck Maclean), whose longtime real-life friendship easily translates into onscreen chemistry, even when their characters are mostly at odds with each other. The two leads are supported by a generous cast, including the likes of Hong Chau, Ron Perlman, Alfred Molina, Michael Stuhlbarg and others, all of whom are fantastic to watch, even if some of them are let down by the sloppy script. Like Affleck’s character, a cynical ex-con who’s smarter and has a bigger mouth than everyone else in the room, “The Instigators” is fun until it gets irritating.
History and direction
(L-R) Casey Affleck, director Doug Liman and Matt Damon on the set of ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Damon plays Rory, a divorced ex-Marine who’s fallen on hard times and is hinting enough at his desire to commit suicide to alarm his therapist, Dr. Rivera (Chau). But before Rory can “cash in his ticket,” as he puts it, he has one thing left to do: He wants to see his son, but in order to do so he needs to pay exactly $32,480 in child support and other payments. And the only way to do that is to participate in a heist orchestrated by lower-ranking mob boss Mr. Besegai (Stuhlbarg) and his right-hand man Richie (Molina), who operate out of a local bakery.
Besegai’s plan is for a small group of thieves to infiltrate the election headquarters of corrupt Mayor Miccelli (Perlman), whose re-election is virtually assured and who collects a staggering amount of cash “gifts” each election night from interested parties who want to curry favor with him. The idea is to break in after the election night party is over and raid the place, take the mayor’s money, and escape by boat behind the building. In addition to Rory, the team will consist of Cobby (Affleck) and Scalvo (Jack Harlow), the latter a hot-headed thug whom Mr. Besegai puts in charge of the operation.
Aside from Scalvo being a trigger-happy guy and Rory being a complete novice at crime (and depressed and lackluster), a number of other variables (like Miccelli’s unexpected election loss) throw the plan into disarray. This is the best part of The Instigators: Normally, a movie like this leads up to the big heist in the third act, and even if things go wrong, the team improvises their way out of it. Here, the caper goes awry in the first half hour, and every carefully crafted aspect of the plan goes in the complete opposite direction.
(L-R) Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau and director Doug Liman of Apple Original Films’ “The Instigators” make an appearance at View Boston. Photo: Marion Curtis/Starpix for Apple Original Films.
That leaves Rory and a wounded Cobby as unlikely partners and fugitives, fleeing the scene with little cash but a piece of personal property that’s extremely valuable to the mayor. After its offbeat first third, “The Instigators” becomes more episodic and unbelievable as Rory and Cobby go on the run, evading hitmen and corrupt cops (including a menacing special ops officer played by Ving Rhames) through a series of chases, explosions and narrow escapes, with Dr. Rivera somehow turning up as a fake hostage.
The contrivances required to get Rivera in and out of the situation, and then back into it later, also lead to some of the film’s most off-key moments. In one extended, destructive chase sequence, Rivera feeds Rory therapeutic clichés (“Think about the person you want to be,” he improbably offers) as they tear through the streets of Beantown with a dozen police cars in hot pursuit. Since this is essentially a comedy, the stakes never seem as real as they could be; even with compromised cops, seedy thugs, and rampant political corruption running through the story, Liman’s breezy script and direction keep it all light and perfunctory, leading to a somewhat dull ending.
The cast
(L-R) Hong Chau, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon in ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Even when the script starts to lose its air, “The Instigators” (an odd title, since Rory and Cobby don’t instigate anything, but simply react to their changing circumstances) is kept afloat by its ensemble of sturdy, ever-reliable actors. As mentioned above, Damon and Affleck are the ones who provide most of the film’s appeal – the way Damon’s taciturn straight man and the jaded, seen-it-all criminal bounce off of each other provides most of the film’s fun. Damon’s Rory is a wounded working-class guy, a guy who’s been pushed to the edge both by his own mistakes and by things not under his control and who only gradually regains control of his own destiny as best he can.
Affleck’s Cobby is the source of most of the film’s humor, as his disgruntled attitude, roguish charm, and constant barrage of jokes, taunts, and silliness hide a quick, streetwise intelligence that gets him and Rory in and out of trouble. He becomes irritating not only to his victims, but to us as well, and we warm to the feeling when some of those victims tell him to shut up.
Hong Chau is always superb, though she has the least credible material to work with and a character who borders on the “therapist” stereotype. The rest, especially Stuhlbarg, Molina, Toby Jones (as Miccelli’s mild-mannered accountant) and Perlman as her selfish, Trump-like boss, are all a joy to watch, even if their characters are very shallow.
Final Thoughts
(L-R) Casey Affleck and Matt Damon promoting ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.
“Paper-thin” is a good way to describe “The Instigators”: It all works on a superficial level, it never resonates too emotionally, and it doesn’t quite strike the right balance between comedy, action, and crime thriller. It will make you laugh (or maybe chuckle silently) without building to a real comedic crescendo.
Yet Liman keeps the pace up (only the extended ending drags a bit), lets us dip in and out of the story in 90 minutes, and gives us plenty of opportunities to see Damon and Affleck have fun. There are far worse ways to spend an hour and a half, including some that Doug Liman has already provided before.
‘The Instigators’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
“Boston’s most wanted. And the least qualified.”
Rory and Cobby are unlikely partners who team up to pull off a heist. But when everything goes wrong, they team up to escape the police, backward bureaucrats and a vengeful crime… Read the plot
What is the plot of ‘The Instigators’?
A desperate, depressed father (Matt Damon) and a cynical, wisecracking ex-con (Casey Affleck) become embroiled in a brazen robbery that quickly goes awry, and the unlikely duo are soon pursued by hitmen, the police, Boston’s corrupt mayor and the father’s very concerned therapist (Hong Chau).
Who is in the cast of ‘The Instigators’?
- Matt Damon as Rory
- Casey Affleck as Cobby
- Hong Chau as Dr. Donna Rivera
- Paul Walter Hauser as Booch
- Michael Stuhlbarg as Mr. Besegai
- Ving Rhames as Frank Toomey
- Alfred Molina as Richie Dechico
- Toby Jones as Alan Flynn
- Jack Harlow as Scalvo
- Ron Perlman as Mayor Miccelli
(L-R) Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in ‘The Instigators’. Photo: Apple TV+.