Plot: Rory and Cobby are reluctant partners: a desperate father and an ex-con thrown together to rob a corrupt politician’s ill-gained earnings. But when the heist goes wrong, the two find themselves engulfed in a whirlwind of chaos, pursued not only by police but also by backward bureaucrats and vengeful crime bosses. Completely out of their depth, they convince Rory’s therapist to join their riotous getaway through the city, where they must put aside their differences and work together to evade capture — or worse.
Review: There are so many things that The Instigators has going for it: The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman reuniting with star Matt Damon, Damon reuniting with his Ocean’s franchise and Good Will Hunting co-star Casey Affleck, and Affleck co-scripting the movie. Setting it in the city with two of Hollywood’s most unabashedly vocal Bostonians, this movie sounded brilliant on paper. On the heels of his mega-hit Roud House, Doug Liman’s second film of 2024 looks like a fun twist on the heist genre, but trailers can be misleading. The Instigators is a fun movie but light and fairly forgettable despite a stellar ensemble led by two fun performances from the charismatic duo of Damon and Affleck. While Matt Damon does much less here than in his Jason Bourne days, Doug Liman can muster just enough to keep this movie from feeling wholly generic while avoiding it becoming another cinematic Boston cliche.
Running at just over ninety minutes (minus credits), The Instigators gets going fast without much introduction. Recruited by Salvo (Jack Harlow), who works for Mr. Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg), former Marine Rory (Matt Damon), and ex-con Cobby (Casey Affleck) join the heist planned to fleece perennial Mayor Miccelli (Ron Perlman) of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of donations on Election Night. Right away, things do not go to plan, which forces Rory and Cobby to go on the run with little to show for their efforts aside from a precious item that belongs to the Mayor. While Besegai and his colleague Richie Dechico (Alfred Molina) enlist Booch (Paul Walter Hauser) to track down and kill Rory and Cobby, the Mayor sends elite detective Frank Toomey (Ving Rhames) to bring back what they stole. As they try to survive, Rory and Cobby squabble, fighting and pulling in Rory’s therapist, Dr. Donna Rivera (Hong Chau). Thus, we find the two blue-collar crooks involved in hostage situations, makeshift car chases, explosions, and poorly planned heists (plural).
Because The Instigators launches into the heist within the first twenty minutes of the movie, you know there is far less meticulous preparation than we saw in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy. Instead, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon play two guys who get stuck without knowing how to clear themselves, way out of their element. The charm that Damon and Affleck bring to their characters comes from Damon’s stone-faced delivery and Affleck’s smart-ass dialogue delivery line after line. As something of an odd couple, Damon and Affleck are charmingly clueless as criminals but masters of that extreme Southie accent they put to such great use almost thirty years ago. Busting each other’s chops makes for some fun moments throughout the film, but it also masks the paper-thin plot that requires a lot of coincidences to make the story work. This includes Hong Chau’s likable therapist, who is good in every scene she has but strains credulity in getting her to those places.
A large part of my issue with The Instigators is the substantial cast, many of whom appear for a scene or two and then do not factor into the rest of the story. Paul Walter Hauser’s Booch is a funny roadblock for the characters who serve his purpose and is never mentioned again. Equally, the great Michael Stuhlbarg and Alfred Molina seem to be prominent at the movie’s start, then vanish, only to return in a mid-credits sequence. Both Toby Jones and Ron Perlman have portrayed solid villains in their long careers but barely scratch the surface with their roles here. Ving Rhames’s character drives a tank around the streets of Boston with no real explanation and works merely to connect certain scenes rather than serve as a necessary character. It sounds like I am complaining about these actors, but they are all so good in their roles despite their characters never feeling integral to the plot other than to prop up the flimsy narrative.
Casey Affleck co-wrote The Instigators with Chuck Maclean and gave me confidence that this movie would not be another depressing Boston-set crime movie like The Town or Gone Baby Gone. Thankfully, this movie happens to take place in Boston rather than revel in the stereotypes of the New England metropolis. Director Doug Liman does the opposite with The Instigators, compared to the colorful and cartoonish action of Road House. Most of the action in this movie is centered on a car chase and some shootouts, with two substantial explosions thrown in for good measure. Nothing in this movie feels as propulsive as Liman’s previous films. The Instigators is the first comedic project from Liman since 1996’s Swingers and 1999’s Go, but it lacks as much energy as either of those movies. Filmed in muted grays, there is an overcast look to The Instigators that drags down some of the humor that is the movie’s best element.
The Instigators is not a bad movie, but it is not nearly as good as it should have been. Casey Affleck is stronger on camera, opposite Matt Damon, than he is as a writer, with lifelong friends who can carry their offscreen chemistry into the dynamic between Rory and Cobby. The movie has some twists to the expected formula but wastes them in favor of a truncated and anticlimactic third act that wastes the build-up the first hour sets in place. This is a lightweight movie that likely cost a lot more than it needed to and will doubtfully turn any profit but will surely garner fans of Damon and Affleck to stream it this weekend. The Instigators is harmless and a breezy late summer watch that is fairly entertaining, if not all that unique.
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