The Instigators (2024) Review: A Well-Acted But Sadly Low-Stakes Heist Comedy

The Instigators have my attention because of Matt Damon and director Doug Liman’s reunion since The Bourne Identity. But instead of another espionage thriller, it’s a heist comedy boasting familiar faces from Casey Affleck to Hong Chau, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ving Rhames and Ron Perlman. The movie also marks the second time Liman directed a feature for a streaming service after his entertaining Road House remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal for Prime Video earlier this year.

Co-written by Chuck MacLean of TV’s City on a Hill and Casey Affleck, the story sounds like a whole lot of fun revolving around a heist gone wrong: The heist in question is robbing the crooked Mayor Micceli’s (Ron Perlman) dirty money during an election night party, where the latter is currently competing with his rival candidate, Mark Choi played by Ronnie Cho. Mr Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg), the Boston crime boss who also owns a local bakery, hires ex-Marine Rory (Matt Damon) and an alcoholic ex-con Cobby (Casey Affleck) alongside volatile Scalvo (Jack Harlow) to pull off the heist.

Now, the heist is supposed to be an easy job since it’s all well-planned from the beginning. But things go sideways when the three robbers realise there is only a little money in the safe and it gets worse from there. Roy and Cobby end up fleeing with whatever loot they get including a valuable belonging that Mayor Micceli wants back at all costs. So, the mayor enlists Special Ops Unit officer-in-charge Frank Toomey (Ving Rhames in a typical no-nonsense, I-don’t-give-a-f*** personality) to track them down and retrieve his belongings.

With Cobby injured during the botched heist and Rory desperately needing US$32,480 as he mentions the amount occasionally, they have to find a way to fix the problem. Then along came Dr Donna Rivera (Hong Chau), who happens to be Rory’s therapist. She reluctantly agrees to treat Cobby and is even willing to become their “hostage” until Rory does what he needs to do and promises to turn himself in afterwards.

The Instigators focuses better on the buddy-comedy territory between Damon and Affleck. They play off each other well as two bickering, mismatched partners and not to mention, these two portraying amateur robbers end up going way over their heads is just entertaining to watch. Damon’s slow-witted Rory resulted in some of his funniest performances to date while Affleck does a good job playing the condescending Cobby. Hong Chau delivers decent support as the calm and collected Dr Donna Rivera, who is caught in the middle of the mess caused by Rory and Cobby while Michael Stuhlbarg shows up as a frustrated crime boss, Mr Besegai. Shame that Alfred Molina, who appears as Besegai’s partner-in-crime is sadly undermined here. Then, there’s Ron Perlman, who is having a field day playing the foul-mouthed corrupt mayor.

While I enjoy the overall acting, the heist sequence is disappointingly low in stakes so don’t expect this to be on the same level as Ocean’s Eleven, which coincidentally starred Matt Damon. while the action set pieces are technically proficient but surprisingly lack the visceral flair. One of the major action scenes involves a high-speed vehicular pursuit between Rory in the driver’s seat alongside Cobby and Donna and the police cars look like a highlight here. And yet, it’s all noises and crashes but none of the adrenaline that Liman did so well in his past action movies like The Bourne Identity and Mr and Mrs Smith.

Frankly, there’s a lot of potential that I expect The Instigators to deliver more than just a so-so entertainment, especially given the stacked cast involved.

The Instigators is currently streaming on Apple TV+.