"The Instigators" and "Wolfs"

Apple is cutting back on theatrical releases after some big titles underperformed.  However, they recently premiered two films that feel very much like they should have been getting wide releases, as they star some pretty big names - well, names that were big fifteen years ago.  It's probably a coincidence, but all the main players are alumni of the "Oceans 11" movies - Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in "The Instigators" and George Clooney and Brad Pitt in "Wolfs."

"The Instigators" is a Doug Liman action film where Damon and Affleck carry out a heist in Boston.  There are a lot of familiar faces in the cast - Hong Chau as Damon's therapist, Ron Perlman as a corrupt mayor, Michael Stuhlbarg and Alfred Molina as mobsters, Paul Walter Hauser as a hit man, and even Toby Jones as a government flunky with a good bit in the last act.  It's light, it's funny, the action is good, and this absolutely would have made a good chunk of change twenty years ago at the box office.  There's not much new or innovative, but the one distinguishing element is the endless Bostonian patter between Damon and Affleck.  The're set up as a sort-of criminal odd couple, but not with much conviction.  "The Instigators" is not one of the better things that anyone involved has ever done, but it's perfectly serviceable as an action film.  Affleck wrote it, and Matt Damon and Ben Affleck produced, which goes a long way toward explaining how it got made.  

"Wolfs" was more enjoyable for me, a smaller scale but more stylish action comedy about two unnamed fixers who are called in to the same job.  Written and directed by Jon Watts, who I only know from the latest live-action "Spider-man" films, it feels like a tribute to the brief run of Elmore Leonard adaptations that we got in the late '90s.  Clooney and Pitt are great onscreen together, and it's such a pleasure to listen to them argue and grumble about being forced to work together, and separately bristle every time someone points out how similar they are.  The plot is mostly beside the point, and there's a chase scene that goes on for way too long, but "Wolfs" delivers on the charm and the deadpan comedy.  Despite all the puffing and posturing, neither of these hardened professionals prove to be willing to do anything too mean, and it's genuinely nice to see them warm up to each other and join forces over the course of one wild night.  

I think of Damon, Clooney, and Pitt as being part of the last generation that we could really call movie stars, though Clooney was always getting dinged for making movies that never made much money.  In 2024, movie stars are almost totally extinct, despite repeated efforts to push up-and-comers like Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega to A-lister status.  Likewise, the films that depended on the participation of movie stars have been pretty scarce.  "Wolfs" is an excellent reminder of what a star-driven vehicle looks like, and the kind of filmmaking that is possible when you have actors with real onscreen charisma go to work.  Jon Watts also puts in some effort with the visuals - lots of nocturnal haunts and holiday lighting give the "Wolfs" a certain midwinter coziness.  "The Instigators" is much less accomplished, but I can tell what Doug Liman was going for and I'm grateful for the attempt.  

I'm also very aware that none of the leading men are young anymore, and my reactions to these films are definitely colored by nostalgia.  Apple was probably right not to give these films wider releases, because films like this don't play well in theaters anymore.  None of these actors have headlined a real box office hit in a long while.  Matt Damon in "The Martian" was all the way back in 2015, and I keep forgetting that Brad Pitt was in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."  I don't think any of them have lost a step when it comes to performances, but it's no longer their era.  And that's a little bittersweet.     

   

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