The Instigators

Available on Apple TV+

At some point in time, every streaming platform has been guilty of churning out a star-studded film that is about as generic as processed cheese, and Doug Liman’s The Instigators is the latest offence on Apple’s part. This is a shame because the film, which was written by its co-star Casey Affleck and Chuck Maclean, has all the ingredients of a solid heist comedy. It reunites Affleck and Matt Damon with their Boston roots, sees the latter team up with his The Bourne Identity director, and has a stellar supporting cast to boot. 

Alas, The Instigators never really feels like anything other than an easy payday for all involved and an attempt to reboot the career of Affleck, which has flatlined since his Academy Award winning role in Manchester By the Sea. If the latter part of that suspected modus operandi is true, then it’s unlikely to reap the desired rewards, as Affleck’s performance is as forgettable as the film itself, never managing to get out of second gear and barely concealing the whiff of general disinterest that permeates almost every scene. 

Given that the general theme of direct-to-streaming releases seems to be ‘you win some, you lose some’, none of this is all that surprising, although it would be nice if corporations like Apple put more of their efforts into financing films such as the excellent Fancy Dance, which they released earlier this year and is certainly deserving of more promotion than this uninspired slog.