“You’re taking notes on a criminal conspiracy?”
I think a better name for this movie would have been The Amateurs, because it is very much amateur hour in this heist comedy, but in a good way. Well, it would seem that AppleTV is treating us to two Oceans’ movie reunions this year. Later this year, George Clooney and Brad Pitt will reunite for action comedy about professional fixers forced to work together on a job despite their preference to operate as lone wolves, hence the film’s name Wolves. And now Matt Damon and Casey Affleck reunite in The Instigators, a heist comedy about two robbers who must go on the run with the help of one of their therapists after a theft doesn’t go as planned. Interestingly, this film also marks the tenth collaboration between Affleck and Damon, as well as Damon reuniting with director Doug Liman after 22 years (since The Bourne Identity) and Damon reunion with Hong Chau, who he worked with in Downsizing. Lots of reunions are going on in this film.
Damon plays Rory, a discharged Marine behind on his child support and desperate for money to make things right with his family, while Affleck is Cobby, an ex-con who has more wisecracks than sense. Both are reluctantly recruited by a mob boss to pull off a heist at mayoral event. However, from the very beginning nothing goes accordingly to plan, and the pair quickly find themselves on the run from the police and the mob boss following the botched robbery. Taking Rory’s psychiatrist hostage (with her consent, of course) the pair very much in over their heads as they are pursued by the mayor and the mob as well as the police force’s secret weapon in the form of Ving Rhames.
This film embraced the chaos, and I liked it. As they say, “man plans and God laughs.” The Instigators embraces that philosophy, as the robbery quickly goes sideways in the funniest way possible, forcing the pair to change plans and resulting in things getting even worse until our pair only have one real option left: run. On the run from pretty much everyone, this is where Affleck takes the lead in my opinion. He is far from a criminal mastermind, but he is not without his tricks, and he uses those tricks to save the pair time and time again, usually by using the same tried but effective tactic. Hey, if isn’t broke, right? Additionally, Affleck’s quips and banter are what keep the film lighthearted and fun. No disrespect to Damon, but it just didn’t’ seem like there was much on the paper for his character, who is a bit too compliant and dimwitted.
That said, the dynamic between the two characters works overall. This is likely owed to the years of collaboration between the two, as they are able to play to each other’s strengths. However, I do believe the best chemistry of the film was between Affleck and Chau. The car-chase scene where the pair are just bickering back in forward despite the seriousness of the situation had me in stitches. I would have liked to see a bit more mystique from Ving Rhames’ character. From the reverence that his character receives from the other characters, including the mob, it is clear that he is a force to be reckoned with, a sort of one-man army. We get a bit of that towards the end of the film, but it might have been nice to have had more of that earlier on. Alfred Molina felt underutilized in his role as lackey. While the mobster’s overall approach to the situation was a unique departure from the stereotypical way that the character archetype has been depicted approaching the situation. I think the stereotype would have been the better way to go and added to the film’s tension.
The Instigators is a fun heist movie and lighthearted enough that it can function as a family-friendly movie. It dragged on at times, but as it tended to deviate away from the stereotypical way that heist movies are usually depicted, its uniqueness makes it a worthwhile viewing experience. Besides any day that you have Casey Affleck and Matt Damon in a movie together, it is unlikely that you won’t enjoy it.
