The Instigators review: "Matt Damon and Doug Liman reunite for a tremendously entertaining crime caper"

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22 years after The Bourne Identity, Matt Damon and director Doug Liman reunite for this crafty Boston-set comic crime caper, one that’s as well-cast as it is written. Damon plays Rory, a man at his wits’ end, as he tells therapist Dr. Rivera (Hong Chau) at the outset. Rory needs exactly $32,480 for reasons that will become clear and he plans to get it by joining a heist run by Michael Stuhlbarg and Alfred Molina’s small-time crooks.

Taking place during local elections, the robbery leaves bodies everywhere when a stand-off goes wrong. Worse is to come, as Rory and his associate Cobby (Casey Affleck) steal a bracelet belonging to the mayor (Ron Perlman), who desperately wants it back. Soon, everyone from Paul Walter Hauser’s thug to Ving Rhames’ special-ops unit cop are coming after them.

Co-scripted with real panache by Affleck and Chuck MacLean, the film nods towards Trumpian politics as Perlman’s crooked mayor refuses to concede when he loses the election early on. But this is just an added layer to the intoxicating blend of comedy and action, something Liman has traditionally done so well in films like American Made.

From hair-raising gas explosions to car chases cut to Petula Clark’s 'Downtown' and riots scored to House of Pain’s 'Jump Around', there’s a visceral quality to The Instigators, yet the action is secondary to the character-building and down-at-heel laughs. With its nicely realized blue-collar world proving the ideal backdrop, the result is a whole heap of fun.

The Instigators streams on Apple TV+ from August 9.

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