Movie Review: 'The Town'

Seen on: September 9, 2010

The players: Director: Ben Affleck, Writers: Ben Affleck, Peter Craig, Aaron Stockard, Cast: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm

Facts of interest: Based on the novel by Chuck Hogan.

The plot: Affleck plays a bank robber who has a big heist to plan and falls for a bank manager he briefly kidnapped during a job.

Our thoughts: Ben Affleck delivers a tour de force with his new heist thriller “The Town”, but he scores not only as an actor, but also as a now established director with a great eye and a feeling for optimal pacing. “The Town” is a dark, beautifully shot film that combines captivating action sequences with flawless acting to offer a character-driven tale cinemagoers should have no trouble enjoying throughout.

Strong character development does matter a lot in this movie, and Affleck and co-screenwriters Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard made sure to generate a compelling, fast-paced plot driven by people we instantly start caring about. It is a challenge to turn the bad guys into likable characters, but Affleck and his team spend enough time building unique personalities without neglecting suspense.

Essentially, “The Town” is a quite intense experience no matter what unfolds on the screen. Sure, the couple of well staged car pursuits and heists we get to admire flow perfectly and inject the movie with a fair dose of thrilling action, but even most of the scenes dominated only by clever dialogue create this gripping feeling we as spectators aren’t able to shake off. In this case, that’s actually a good thing.

Affleck stars as Doug MacRay, a Boston native and expert bank robber who stars off the film by invading a big bank with his partners. Next thing you know, the vault is empty and the boys are on the run after briefly taking the bank’s manager Claire (Rebecca Hall) hostage.  One thing leads to another, and a couple of days later, Doug is following Claire to make sure she doesn’t know anything about her kidnappers.

This is where the story gets interesting, because Doug approaches Claire and starts courting her without her knowing who he really is. Meanwhile, Doug’s colleague James (Jeremy Renner) gets overly suspicious of his buddy’s newfound romance, and when Doug and his gang are forced into pulling off another huge heist, problems starts to show up everywhere. And yes, the FBI is hot on the boys’ tail as well…

There’s a lot going on in the 130-minute “The Town,” but every event is dealt with accordingly and every character gets enough screen time to properly contribute to the film’s progress. This is an incredibly well structured film that carefully explores its themes without falling victim to dragging moments or other unnecessary twists. It’s a clean story about a guy trying to make a change, and it flows marvelously.

One of my favorite things about this movie is the tremendous cast, starting with an Affleck who’s as confident as ever. He balances his charm and toughness quite well, and he shares superb chemistry with the gorgeous and talented Rebecca Hall, who steals every scene she’s in. Jeremy Renner plays a convincing tough guy who’s as unpredictable as he’s aggressive, and Jon Hamm is perfect as FBI man Frawley.

Freaky quote: "She didn't see anything. Get that into your head!" - Ben Affleck

The final word: I could go on and on, but I highly recommend you check out “The Town.” It’s a great looking thriller that will pull you in and keep you busy from start to finish. Affleck proves yet again he’s got vast talent, and I hope we get to explore more of it in the future. I’m already a big fan of “The Town,” and I will try and catch it a second time. It really impressed me that much.

Article by Franck Tabouring