August Movies Part 2: Firebrand & The Instigators

Sadly, August has lived up to its reputation for being a bit mid when it comes to new movies. If you don't want to trek to the theater and want to find something to stream on the couch, the following are two potential options, but don't get your hopes way up. Honestly, I feel like I've had an off week watching these films, so I do encourage you to check them out if you have the bandwidth and come at me in the comments about how you really loved them!

Firebrand: Directed by Karim Ainouz, and written by Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth (based off a novel by Elizabeth Fremantle), Alicia Vikander and Jude Law star as Katherine Parr and Henry VIII. Parr was his final wife, the one who "survived" if you know the mnemonic, and this movie gives us a glimpse of what she was like as Henry's regent when he was abroad fighting battles. Upon his return, he is increasingly tyrannical, and she needs to ensure she doesn't go the way of this previous wives. 

I was initially invested in this film because I thought I was getting a genuine history lesson about a woman who generally doesn’t get much press. But it turns out this is one of those dramas where you end up having to do a ton of research after to sort out what is true and what is a fictional flight of fancy. If you’re a fan of The Tudors and this period of English history, perhaps this film will scratch your itch for excellent production design and costumes. But if you’re looking for propulsive plot, this is not the film for you. 

Law and Vikander do a decent job of realizing these characters, but there’s nothing new here - Henry is still just a great big bully who likes to shag every woman around and is desperate for an heir, while Catherine is a long-suffering woman plotting to gain some power and push for Protestantism. All the reading I have done since seeing this film to learn more about Parr has been genuinely more entertaining than the film itself. If reading is not your jam, perhaps this film will give you all the information you seek, but otherwise, just head to the library. 

The Instigators: This movie is certainly never a bore, but yet somehow still manages to be thoroughly mediocre. Directed by Doug Liman, it is the quintessential streaming movie, featuring a stacked cast but never quite making the leap from formulaic to fantastic. 

Matt Damon and Casey Affleck star as Rory and Cobby (genuinely didn't know that was the character's name until writing this post), two strangers who are down on their luck, need to make some money quickly, and so agree to help in a plot to rob the mayor of Boston (played by Ron Perlman of all people) on election night. What follows is a botched robbery that spirals unendingly out of control, and as the two men go on the run, we get more of their backstory as well as peel away the many layers of corruption that have led to their current predicament.

The script is definitely fast-paced, and Hong Chau livens up the proceedings halfway through the film as Rory's therapist, who is trying to stop her client from digging himself into a deeper hole. But the movie simply failed to wholly captivate me. Maybe if I was in a theater, I would have been forced to pay attention and find more to love, but as a streaming film, it all happened in the background while I was playing Candy Crush on your phone. It doesn’t feel like it’s funny enough, slick enough, or action-packed enough: it’s just so-so and painting by the numbers and by the time you get to the end, you’re like, well OK, I guess that helped me while away two hours.