I never imagined Doug Liman could create an even worse movie than ‘Road House’: the tacky, ‘modern’ remake of the 1980 cult classic B movie. In ‘The Instigators’ he gives so rotten David Bourne working with Matt again makes this surely one of the least endearing roles for the actor the second film of the year, this time starring himself, so owing this particular role to one cast unimportant character only makes it where director does this particular actor no good. This Apple TV heist movie is underbaked, melancholy, endlessly dull, and passive with no high points whatsoever. I actually cringe at the prospect of saying much more about it because such cheap garbage seems far too unworthy of marring the pristine white page with even more stains.
From the get-go, the disjointed screenplay of Casey Affleck and Chuck MacLean makes ‘The Instigators’ a painful experience to sit through. The retired marine Rory (Damon) together with the alcohol dependent Cabby (Affleck) are two dull manilla folders who are pushed together alongside fire cracker Salvo (Jack Harlow) by local Boston mobster Mr. Besegia (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Richie Dechico (Alfred Molina). The current mayor of the city, the heartless Mayor Miceli (Ron Perlman), is currently battling against the underdog Mark Choi (Ronnie Cho). The two mafia heads are of the opinion that Miceli is a shoe-in and is bound to win by a mountain of votes as he always does.
At the celebration for his Coliseum achievements which has been said to have a cover with Roman costumes, there must be lots of cash present. But the pleasurable, so to say, turns tragic when Miceli fails to show up leaving Rory and Cobby to steal empty handed from the site.
The chains of Miceli seem to possess a valuable charm by containing the password to a safe that looks very promising. In revenge, the mayors send off their ‘slaughter’ Frankie, played by Ving Rhames, to capture Rory and Cobby. The couple tear from one end of the town to another, ending up securing Dr. Donna Rivera, Rory’s psychologist, without any intentions to rescue practitioners. The story is rather poor, considering the ensemble of actors who carry the whole film on their own backs.
“Although it is arguably the easiest in terms of concern to have or achieve”, at least, “The Instigators” makes sure that all its cast is disappointingly wasted and annoying. Stuhlbarg enters into the mix with a powerful voice and big mane due to which he alongside Molina practically disappears after filming a third of the movie. Paul Walter Hauser was briefly featured as a fixer and Toby Jones portraying the mayor’s attorney, doesn’t even qualify for a supporting role. Rhames just sulks and overweight comedian, Pearlman shouts now and again. Nobody is properly developed, even the protagonist of the film, the two leading characters. And although we are provided with some vague explanation as to why Rory and Cobby for example, require such an amount, the audience never feels that tension throughout the movie.
The coverage is slathered with awful footage and contributes nothing to the film’s narrative. One of the most baffling musical cues I have ever heard was the needle drops. As Rory and Cobby ride towards what appears to be a beach house (twice, no less; if this is a joke, the point has not been made by Damon and Affleck), the lyrics ‘People moving out, people moving in/Why, because of the color of their skin’ from ‘Ball of Confusion’ play in the background. ‘Downtown’ kicks off a car chase. The song ‘Jump Around’ complements a stream of people rushing to grab pieces of cash dangling in the air like in Kubrick’s ‘The Killing.’ The song choices are so inconsistent that it is clear that Liman didn’t bother to press shuffle on his unusually Spotify account.
None of this is aided however by Affleck being plain wrong for the role. What should have been great casting for a sad, sarcastic Cobby simply ends up with Cobby sucking the wind out of the energy present in the banter in the flashing lines of the script.
Since neither Cobby nor Rory can be said to be particularly charming, or interesting for that matter, Cobby nor Rory. With his usual charm, Damon attempts to pull things off, but he falls flat due to badly written sequences and even worse chemistry between him and Affleck. Perhaps in a better movie their dynamic may work. But in such a terminally botched project, you actually start to wish that rather than Damon, Ben Affleck was working with his close friend. Then perhaps there will be some chemistry or at least some rhythm. Rather, it ends up being a buddy movie that attempts to replicate the harsh ridicule of a Coen brothers movie but fails to be funny or entertaining.
There is absolutely nothing in the film that can be called entertaining and there are no villains certainly, ‘The instigators’ takes zero pleasure in entertaining. The heists were organized but looking at them now they seem to be neither appealing nor entertaining; even planning them felt more a chore than an enthralling experience. Cheap VFX crumples the spectacle into a flat form ready of the butchered car chases. Car chase scenes are so weakly constructed that there is none to mention, very predictably, the bracelet is a boring MacGuffin. The evolution of the film is self contradictory, it cares little for its characters, and it seems only to wish to throw its audience into quite a stiff sleep. ‘The Instigators’ does not provoke any significant scenes, emotions, humor or depth. At most, it is a series of moving pictures.
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