The Instigators | Film Review

When a heist goes wrong, unlikely partners Rory (Matt Damon) and Cobby (Casey Affleck) have to team up to escape the police and take the money they need.

I was looking forward to seeing this film so much - to the point where I was counting down the days until it came out! I love the actors involved, the plot looked interesting, and it was promised to be quite funny so I was here for it!

Thankfully I loved the movie. I've seen it three times since it first came out and I've loved it more each time.

I was really glad that it got straight into the action. In under 10 minutes, we know the characters and what the heist is, and we can sit back and enjoy without any unnecessary backstory.

The fun thing about the movie is that it plays like a reverse heist - usually in a heist movie the heist takes place at the end of the film, goes well and everyone walks away with everything they wanted. In this one, the heist takes place at the beginning, everything goes wrong and no one really knows what they're doing. But because of that, the characters themselves become so much more important than whatever the heist was.

The story itself was a lot more compelling and interesting than I thought it would be. While I thought it would be fun, I didn't expect to care about the characters as much as I did. 

Though in saying that, I thought both of the main characters could have been explored more. There are a few scenes where the characters reveal important, sometimes painful parts of their pasts, and each time this is just brushed over. It would have been really nice to explore these moments more and give the audience more information about the characters we're following.

Speaking of the characters, each one was great and had a really fun, if small, part in the movie. And part of that comes down to how amazing the rest of the cast is. In addition to Damon and Affleck the film also stars Hong Chau (Dr. Donna Rivera), Paul Walter Hauser (Booch), Michael Stuhlbarg (Mr. Besegai), Ving Rhames (Frank Toomey), Alfred Molina (Richie Dechico), Toby Jones (Alan Flynn), Jack Harlow (Scalvo) and Ron Perlman (Mayor Miccelli) - such an amazing group of actors! I did wish that some of them had been given more to do, but ultimately most of them had small supporting roles that absolutely worked and aided the movement of the story.

But the reason the film works so well is because of Damon and Affleck's chemistry. Their moments together are so fun to watch and feel very authentic, which makes sense given how long the pair have known each other. Though Chau's character also has really great chemistry with them both. In fact, the dynamic between the three of them was probably the most funny part of the film.

Speaking of the humour, the film definitely has a lot of genuinely funny moments, but the overall tone wasn't as funny as it could have been. But I still laughed out loud multiple times.

Overall, this film was right up my street. Completely character-driven while also having an interesting, fun plot. Definitely worth a watch!

7.5/10