The Instigators

Love the incessant patter between Afleck and Damon - my dad's family hails from Boston and Peabody and the yabbering between the two sounded just like many a Thanksgiving. Really fun, lightweight caper that gets a lot of its pleasure from the two bickering. Man, those two brought me back home.

Great supporting cast and enough unforeseen twists to make it quite original. Not really for the family audience as they use the f-word like a preposition; often and in nearly every sentence. Very, very Boston...tender ears and delicate sensibilities may be easily offended.

If you can turn your brain off and go along with the ride, then it's highly recommended!

There isn't too much to say about this one, so I won't go on too much. I think theres a lot to like and not much that you won't, though in fairness its certainly no blockbuster. Most of the good bits are given away in the trailer and said trailer unfortunately paints a picture of a movie far funnier than it actually is, but then trailers do tend to exaggerate don't they.

The film is more humerous than funny. I did get a couple of laugh out loud moments, but only a couple. Most were moments that made me chuckle and appreciate the humour but not really laugh. There is good chemistry between the accomplished cast which works very well, and though I'd not say there were any stellar performances, the whole cast handled their roles competently. I think there really needed to be more for the cast to work with to give this one the 'Umph' it needed to raise the bar. Its ok but, for film that promises so much with such an accomplised cast, it needed a lot more.

Its a heist film of course, and it is very much like 'Tower Heist' which also features Casey Affleck as well as Ben Stiller, Eddy Murphy, Matthew Broderick, and Alan Alder.

The instigators takes a similarly light-hearted approach to the genre though, the back story is s little more sinsiter with Damon and Afflecks backstory being somewhat more grim. Still, this movie doesn't deliver or fulfill in the way Tower Heist does, and I think that may be because Affleck is really the only character with lines good enough to deliver the humerous aspect with any merit. The stoicism of Damons character does parry well with Affleck's but something is missing to completely deliver the experience I think they production is going for. I think the script probably needed a re-write, possibly with a fresh set of eyes to enhance the ideas on offer.

The screen play is decent, nothing too complicated, and for the most part it works quite well. The meat of this movie is really coming from the characters and just falls a little short, even outside the humour.

I will also say that I think the direction may have been a contributing factor to how this one played out negatively. The minimalist manner that seems to underscore much of the lines lacks the emphasis that was often needed... but thats just my opinion.

Ok I said I wasn't going to go on and I've already done so more than intended. In a nutshell the film underdelivers, but is still a decent watch... which kinda goes to show what could have been, which is even more unfortunate.

6/10 from me.

The score in IMDB was not so tempting to get me watching this movie, but the cast did. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck? Yeah...I'm in. It's not a brilliant movie but also not that predictable as you suppose it would. It has all the elements to create a fine heist comedy with two Imbeciles, but it stays in this level of harmless fun and no evolving to something more.

What happens when a bunch of wrong guys are joining to rob the corrupted Bostonian mayor himself? Troubles. And the troubles get several funny and fun twists, for the movie to actually use its wide cast, for each and every mishap that both of main characters are encountering.

Matt Damon is wearing his Bostonian accent and Casey Affleck stays the chill character, that he is always is, except probably in real life. They got such a rear cast as assisting chamoes almost and contain - Hong Chau, Ron Perlman, Toby Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alfred Molina and even Ving Rhames - all in such small parts, but contributing in their own ways.

Its not a complicated movie that takes us to a journey in the souls of two people that got into crime, though it has a psychological angle, it is just a movie about a job that got wrong and about corrupted people that makes the system stays corrupted, though again - a small taste and bite from those heavy items, that are running in the background for a movie that did his job and gave me a fun time. Without expecting it to be like that.

One thing I love about modern day technology, is that films are a lot cheaper to make. No longer mega studios have to make a movie based on a formula to engage as many audience as possible .

You can tell that this movie is a passion project. Yes, it still follows some typical heist film formula, but we who love heist movies basically know how everyone of these movies end. Still, it has some twists and turns, and even a slightly unexpected ending.

The comedy isn't laugh out loud, but there is plenty to make you smile. While tile The Instigators, isn't some original breakthrough, but neither is any movie put out by mega budget films.

The Instigators, at least has plenty of new themes to offer, we don't get bogged down by some needless romantic subplot. And it's in the end a satire poking fun at other heist films, and yet retains the intensity of what one is to expect from a caper.

Enjoy!

This is a lighthearted fun movie which doesn't take itself too seriously. Having watched the trailer a few weeks ago I was interested in seeing this. That said I am no Casey Affleck fan, but I have to say he was very good.

This is one of those films where everything that could go wrong for the protagonists, does go wrong. I found myself chuckling at the ineptitude and misfortune of the main characters, and willing them on to achieve their goal. I also thought that psychiatrist played a great role in the film, at times dead pan, and at other times she was very funny.

For me, this is a good old fashioned comedy crime caper and worth a look.