The Instigators – A Decent Action Comedy (Early Review)

The Instigators is Doug Liman’s second film to release this year, after the Jake Gyllenhaal led Road House remake, and this time sees the director reteam with Matt Damon for the first time in over 20 years, after kicking off The Jason Bourne franchise together with The Bourne Identity. The story follows Rory (Damon), a desperate father, and Cobby (Affleck), an ex-con, who become reluctant partners thrown together to rob a corrupt politician’s ill-gained earnings. When the heist goes wrong, the two find themselves thrown into a world of chaos, pursued not only by the police but also by backward bureaucrats and vengeful crime bosses. Completely out of their depth, they convince Rory’s therapist Donna Rivera (Chau) to join their getaway through the city where they must put their differences aside and work together to evade capture.

The Instigators might be a little slight as a whole but it still delivers a decently entertaining action comedy held together by a pair of strong performances from Damon and Affleck. While far from the best work from either, they are a lot of fun to watch and clearly had a great time sharing the screen. Not only is their banter amusing to watch, their excellent chemistry helps audiences look past some of the film’s logic and script issues. Ultimately, it is nice to see them let loose for a change compared to what audiences have been accustomed to seeing from both, especially Affleck, who was definitely the standout here, providing some big laughs throughout.

Though most are underutilized, the film boasts an absolutely stacked supporting cast. Chau and Ving Rhames (Frank Toomey) are definitely given the most to do and leave the strongest impressions because of that. But then, there are some very colorful and enjoyably over the top performances from the likes of Ron Perlman (Mayor Miccelli), Michael Stuhlbarg (Mr. Besegai), Paul Walter Hauser (Booch), and even Jack Harlow (Scalvo). The latter doesn’t get a lot to do but Harlow proves that he is a lot better of an actor than most would expect. Liman does a capable job behind the camera and helms all the action sequences very well. The action is well filmed and exciting to watch, led by a car chase featuring a pretty great needle drop. As a whole, it is a fast paced and breezy watch that will have audiences in and out in less than 2 hours, a rarity nowadays.

While there aren’t any major glaring flaws with The Instigators, the most glaring one has to be that the film just doesn’t have quite the depth or staying power that the best of this genre typically offers therefore is likely to become a bit forgettable. Everyone has more or less seen stories, like the one here, a million times before and this time around, it doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises or go in any shocking directions. As nice as it is to have it clock in at under 100 minutes, it does feel like there was quite a bit of footage and character development left on the cutting room floor that would have undoubtedly helped flesh it out more and add more emotional stakes as by the end of the film comes, it comes off as rather lightweight.

In the end, with all the talent involved both in front of and behind the camera, one can’t help but to have expected The Instigators to be a complete knockout. While not nearly as memorable as it had hoped to be, it is still a decent watch that most audiences will have a great time with and one that is sure to be a big hit for Apple when it hits their Apple TV+ streaming service next week (following a limited theatrical run starting tomorrow). At least on paper, it seemed a little odd that a film like this was essentially being sent straight to streaming in a time where Apple has consistently released their films in theaters (often partnering with other studios), but after seeing the film, it definitely feels perfectly suited for a streaming release which is not meant as an insult in any way.

still courtesy of Apple

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/