‘The Instigators’ review: Apologies to Matt Damon

Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in a movie about Boston? Who could’ve predicted that one? Anyway, here’s The Instigators.

Following his remake of Road House for Amazon Prime earlier this year, director Doug Liman returns with a new action comedy on Apple TV+ called The Instigators. The film is set in Massachusetts and features two of the state’s most well-known actors: Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. The question is, with all the star power this film has and all the money that Apple surely shelled-out to get this film made, is it worth subscription cost of Apple TV+? 

The film follows two down-on-their-luck men who aren’t strangers to crime. Rory (Damon) is trying to pay off some debts so he can get closer to his son and impress his therapist (Hong Chau). Cobby (Affleck) is an alcoholic ex-con who doesn’t really seem to have any goals in life other than cracking jokes (and drinking). The two are contacted by Scalvo (Jack Harlow), who’s in trouble with his mafia boss and needs some help pulling off a heist. Rory and Cobby are told that the heist involves infiltrating the mayor of Boston’s office (Ron Perlman) on election night to rob of all the undisclosed cash donations he’s been receiving during his reelection campaign. What sounds like an easy task turns into a series of mistakes and problems that send the two on the run through the city of Boston with no real plan to escape their dilemma.

Beantown buddies.

The biggest achievement of this film must be the casting. Damon and Affleck step into their usual Boston-dude personas with ease and having the film set in Boston really helps with the character building. The chemistry between these two real-life friends is visible and, though a bit heavy-handed most of the time, Affleck has a few comedic moments that land well. Having Chau as the therapist is an excellent casting decision and makes that character the standout of the film. Harlow does about as well as you can expect from a rapper trying his hand at acting. And of course, Ron Perlman as the corrupt mayor couldn’t have been more perfect. 

Run of the mill.

This film had very similar issues to Doug Liman’s other action comedy this year, his remake of Road House. In both films, he had some big-name celebrities and actors to utilize but there wasn’t enough exploration, which left some sections of emptiness in the story and the action. The best pacing in the film came during the initial robbery and car chase through the streets of Boston. Liman has always been consistently good with his action sequences and high-tension moments going back to his first time working with Damon on The Bourne Identity.

As far as plot goes, this story is a standard action-comedy script. Two people are given a task, the task doesn’t go as planned, the two have to go off on their own and figure out how to work together, and the two need to make a new plan to achieve the original objective. While this is by no means a fantastic or hilarious film, it has its moments. You could tell that they were going for the serious guy/funny guy bit and the push for Affleck to be funny was unfortunately a bit too much. I can imagine if you’re not from New England and not used to hearing the Boston accent and knowing people that sound exactly like the characters in the film, that it’s much funnier.

The bottom line.

Sometimes you just want an easy to watch action movie with a few laughs in it that lets you escape life for a while. This won’t win any awards or be a movie you tell your friend at work to watch, but it’s better than a lot of the mediocre action movies that are released in theaters now. With the excellent supporting cast (including the city of Boston) and the somewhat fun script, The Instigators is a film that, if you have access to Apple TV+, is worth a watch on a Saturday night. 

The Instigators is now streaming on Apple TV+. You can watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of Apple TV+. You can read more reviews by Tyler Carlsen here.