The Instigators is an interesting film to see from Doug Liman, not because of its content but because of its place in the streaming world. After controversially protesting against Amazon’s decision to release his Road House remake straight to streaming, it’s unusual to see Liman back in this space he seemingly had major disagreements with. However, with this more negative opinion on subscription services, there’s a possibility that Liman could find ways to breathe some new life into the space. You’ve got a fun set-up and an ensemble cast of talented actors, so really, The Instigators should be a win, right? Well, not quite.
Desperate Times
The Instigators follows Rory (Matt Damon), a father desperate to help their family, and Cobby (Casey Affleck), an ex-convict searching for work. The two are paired to take on a heist involving shady money and a corrupt politician during election season. When the heist goes wrong, Rory and Cobby find themselves on the run from police and unstable criminals, which leads them to Rory’s therapist, Donna (Hong Chau), in a desperate attempt to escape the city and the law.
From the outset, a lot is going for The Instigators with a strong cast, a director capable of making quality movies and a fun premise. Heist movies aren’t a rare breed (VOD stores have plenty of those), but when done right, there’s a ton of fun to be had. The Instigators is a heist film in some ways, but it’s closer to something like Michael Bay’s Ambulance than it is to Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Trilogy. By opting for a more action-focused experience than something more classy and meticulously crafted, The Instigators does lose some charm immediately as it empathizes its focus less on its array of characters but more on uneven action set pieces and weak attempts at humour. It’s a move that’s ultimately frustrating as the film has far more potential in the areas it chooses to ignore in the latter half.
You Need to Think Bigger
The chemistry between the characters of Rory and Cobby is where The Instigators undeniably shines. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck both bring particular idiosyncrasies to their characters that, while they are ultimately abandoned past the first act, at least make an attempt to breathe some life into the script. Damon portrays Rory as an ex-marine who’s inquisitive but inexperienced in criminal life. By crossing that with an emotional core that has Rory trying to raise money for their estranged son, Damon does manage to bring some rawness to his performance, which can feel at odds with some of the film’s attempts at crafting some comedic and manic energy in the third act. Affleck, on the other hand, brings an arrogance to the character of Cobby that contrasts with Damon’s more reserved performance. When the focus is solely on these two, The Instigators does have some amount of fun, even if it can’t quite sustain that energy throughout.
Where The Instigators especially struggles is with Doug Liman’s unimaginative directing, which feels notably at a loss when it comes to crafting scale and thrilling set pieces. While this might avoid some of the pitfalls that Liman’s Road House remake faced recently, like horrendous CGI and a bloated runtime, the worst thing you can say about the film is that it’s far too unwilling to take any sort of risk. Every turn you’d expect a movie like this to take, it does so without any surprises. At just over 100 minutes, the pacing here is largely satisfying, with not much time wasted, but its complete lack of imagination means that there’s really not much to chew on narratively and thematically. The angle of a corrupt politician is almost entirely unexplored and fails to give the environment around our lead characters any actual life. The streets of Boston here feel utterly empty with no personality because The Instigators ultimately feels disinterested in anything else that doesn’t surround the most basic heist movie template.
With a seemingly high budget behind it, it’s honestly remarkable how bland The Instigators looks with its incredibly flat photography. A chase scene around the middle of the film that’s set in a tunnel has virtually no intensity because everything about it feels far too controlled and choreographed, to the point that you can almost feel like you’re watching some behind-the-scenes footage rather than a movie that’s delicately edited and blocked. There’s no weight behind the action because it ultimately feels too clean and organized in order to muster up any suspense. Doug Liman enters and leaves the film as a workman and nothing more. This general attitude provides a strong example of what exactly The Instigators has to offer. It’s a very simple “meat and potatoes” storyline with enough snark to fall in line with many other films like it (especially on streaming). What’s here isn’t terrible, but when you have a cast featuring Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau, Ron Perlman, Toby Jones, Alfred Molina, and Ving Rhames, it’s hard not to wonder what could’ve been if the film had the right technical qualifications for its incredibly strong ensemble. Everyone does a solid job, but they feel constrained by the risk-free workman mindset applied by Liman, which leaves the film lacking any weight or gravitas.
‘The Instigators’ – Final Thoughts
The Instigators is another victim of Apple TV‘s mostly unremarkable film library. It’s far from a bad experience, but it’s ultimately one you’ll forget about pretty quickly (especially when compared to other heist films in which its lead actors have starred). Doug Liman brings nothing behind the camera and instead performs his job as a director in the most mundane ways possible – opting for something visually flat and uninteresting with no attempts to develop further and enhance what’s on screen. You can do a lot worse for those looking for something to put on in the background, but unfortunately, those looking for something a little more special will be disappointed.
The Instigators is now streaming on Apple TV.
