The Instigators review and star rating: ★★
One of Apple TV+’s key summer launches, The Instigators pairs Oscar winning veterans Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in a Boston based crime comedy.
Damon plays Rory, a suicidal former US Marine going through divorce and in mounds of debt. Along with ex-con Cobby, played by Affleck, he joins a robbery crew who intend to steal the bribe money of Boston’s mayor (Ron Perlman) on election night. The heist goes wrong, and the pair flee. Taking Donna as their hostage, Rory fights to avoid the police and get the money he needs.
Directed by Doug Liman (Mr and Mrs Smith, The Bourne Identity), the film jumps into the action quickly, but doesn’t take enough time to establish the tone. There isn’t enough tension in the plot as the amateur criminals fail upwards from one safe house to another, and the script is funny but not enough to be considered an all-out comedy. It just sits in this state of dark humour, never quite convincing you that the stakes are as high as the characters are saying.
There are also side plots that never go anywhere, such as the mayor frantically trying to break open a safe and Cobby’s contentious relationship with the owner of his local bar. There are numerous references to the US city of Boston that will leave the rest of the world scratching their heads. These plot threads build to a ho-hum conclusion.
Luckily, Damon and Affleck give you a reason to watch. Their chemistry as the bumbling, sarcastic losers at large keeps a smile on your face even if the various story fragments don’t go anywhere. Seeing them bickering over the proper way to take a hostage, treat a bullet wound, or plan a getaway is thoroughly entertaining. Given that this is straight to streaming, it may be enough to carry you through for the film’s spritely 100-minute running time during a night in.
Read more: Kensuke’s Kingdom film review: This animation captures charm of Michael Morpurgo book
The supporting cast also have their charms, albeit in smaller chunks. Michael Stuhlbarg and Alfred Molina are charming as the pair’s bosses, but Ving Rhames feels more cuddly than threatening as a fixer sent after the pair, while Perlman is underused in a hysterical support role that could have been done by anyone.
A disposable comedy with some action and a few laughs, The Instigators nonetheless squanders its treasure trove of talent on a story that never decides what it wants to be.
The movie is available on Apple TV+ from 9th August
Read more: Didi film review: raw and uncompromising nostalgia trip to the noughties