"Mixed Worldview Leads to Abundant Foul Language"
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What You Need To Know:
THE INSTIGATORS is well-made. It features several action-packed scenes. It also has a massive amount of comedy, with sly comments thrown in at the most serious times. Throughout THE INSTIGATORS, Rory struggles with doing the right thing versus doing whatever he needs to get the money to see his son again. Rory doesn’t want to hurt anyone or break the law. However, the love he has for his son triumphs over every moral inclination he has. Thus, THE INSTIGATORS has a mixed moral worldview, along with more than 200 obscenities and profanities.
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THE INSTIGATORS is an action-packed crime comedy that follows the journey of two unlikely partners. Rory (Matt Damon) and Cobby (Casey Affleck) are partnered together to rob a politician at a campaign event. The plan seems foolproof, but things go sideways. Rory and Cobby soon find themselves in the middle of chaos and chased by police, crime bosses and recessive bureaucrats. When things get too far out of their wheelhouse, the ex-con and desperate father recruit Rory’s therapist (Hong Chau) to help them escape the city.
THE INSTIGATORS opens by introducing the audience to both Rory and Cobby. Rory, a former Marine, is in therapy dissecting several major life events like a divorce and an estranged son. Cobby, an ex-con, uses a child to unlock his motorcycle that can only be started with a clean breathalyzer test. Cobby then rides his bike to his favorite bar, where he proceeds to get drunk.
Rory and Cobby meet for the first time when a local crime boss hires them, and a third man named Scalvo, to rob a corrupt politician’s earnings during an election night victory party. As reluctant as they are to work for the crime boss, the earnings are too good to pass up. Rory needs a specific amount of money, $32,480, to allow him to be able to see his estranged teenage son. The movie quickly takes the audience through the step-by-step process of how they’re going to rob the politician. The planned heist seems as simple as can be, until it isn’t.
As the heist begins, it becomes clear that things aren’t going to plan. Cobby seems like a seasoned veteran, but it looks as if this is Rory’s first time. Rory and Cobby proceed to break into the safe and steal the money. However, the corrupt mayor, Miccelli, didn’t win, and there were already two pickups prior to Rory, Cobby and Scalvo getting there.
As if the heist couldn’t get any worse, Rory, Cobby and Scalvo run into Mayor Miccelli beating up another man because Miccelli lost the election. Bullets start flying. Scalvo is shot in the head, and Cobby is shot in the arm. Meanwhile, Rory is totally stressed out because the robbery is taking longer than planned.
Rory and Cobby escape the robbery venue and steal an armored truck but not before having an argument about who’s going to drive. Of course, Robby, the one with one good arm, gets behind the wheel. However, he ends up hitting a police car which sends many police officers on a chase for the armored truck.
Word of the failed heist reaches the crime boss, Mr. Besegai, who hired Rory and Cobby. He sends out another man to kill Rory and Cobby on make sure they don’t turn on Besegai. On the flip side, Mayor Miccelli hires his own hit man to retrieve his grandfather’s bracelet that Rory and Cobby stole.
With Rory and Cobby on the run the police and two different hit men, Rory calls Besegai to give him his cut of their meager heist. Rory gives their exact location to Mr. Besegai’s hit man. Rory and Cobby patiently wait for the “doctor,” Booch, to come rescue them. In the meantime, they begin to sift through their earnings from the robbery and come across the mayor’s bracelet, but Rory and Cobby don’t see the significance of it at first.
Rory and Cobby begin to share some of their background and how they ended up on the heist job. Suddenly, Dr. Booch shows up, and he also turns out to be Besegai’s hit man. Rory and Cobby surrender all their earnings over to him. When Booch gets what he needs, he proceeds to raise his gun to shoot Rory and Cobby, but Cobby informs Booch of two open gas lines that are pouring into the house. Cobby and Rory somehow escape the house unscathed. When Booch begins to follow them out, the house is blown to pieces.
Rory decides to drive straight to his therapist, Donna Rivera’s, office so that she can repair Cobby’s wounded shoulder. She doesn’t want to help them at all. She doesn’t want to get into trouble with the authorities. So, Rory suggests he makes Dr. Rivera be their hostage. Reluctantly, Dr. Rivera agrees and patches up Cobby’s wound.
Rory makes a last-ditch effort to get the money he needs to see his son. He and Cobby decide to rob a bank, using the numbers on the back of the Mayor’s bracelet.
Throughout THE INSTIGATORS, Rory struggles with doing the right versus doing what he needs to do in order to see his son again. It’s a fight between good versus evil for Rory, which is why when Dr. Rivera has a chance to “escape” and leave Rory, she chooses to stick by his side. Dr. Rivera knows that Rory doesn’t want to hurt anyone or break the law, but the love he has for his son triumphs over every other moral inclination Rory has.
THE INSTIGATORS is a well-made movie with several action-packed scenes. The movie includes a police chase, bullets flying, several fight scenes, and much more to hold the viewer’s attention. It also has a massive amount of comedy, with sly comments thrown in at the most serious times. However, THE INSTIGATORS has a mixed worldview with well over 200 obscenities and profanities. So, MOVIEGUIDE® finds the movie excessive and unacceptable.
