Affleck's Heist

Rating: Null/10 (5 August 2011)

What Ben Affleck accomplishes in "The Town" is to inject life into his prospects as a director -- and even more surprisingly -- as an actor. In the first endeavor, not much could be expected, his experience being non existent; in the second, his less than convincing body of work was his cross to bear. Surprising or not, Affleck pulls off with passion and dexterity his dual role as actor/director. This is good work. While I would have ended the film with his demise, it wouldn't be because of the Hollywood cliché that crime doesn't pay; I would like to think we have grown out of that Cinderella thought process by now.
I found myself wondering, near the end, if Affleck had contrived to let his hero move onto a new life. That he did so bent believability a bit, but what doesn't these days, the real world giving solid evidence at every turn?
What Affleck has done here is put together a film in a genre that has been particularly popular of late, and, in this opinion, finished ahead of the competition. I found this grittier and more provocative than "The Departed" and "Mystic River." Affleck in the company of the Scorseses and Eastwoods? Really? Yes, it says here.
The performances of Affleck's ensemble are excellent down the line. Rebecca Hall is appealing as the apple of Affleck's eye, in the role of an innocent bank manager whose life is bent out of shape by the heist. Blake Lively is profoundly effective as the whoring mother of Affleck's child, a woman whose dignity was robbed from the get-go. Jeremy Renner, whose forte seems to be that he will implode ala his "Hurt Locker" persona at any moment; Pete Posthelwaite, one of those magnets who electrifies in any scene; Jon Hamm, as a believable FBI straight shooter out to gun down his contemptible target, Affleck.
This is good stuff, and I must admit, that even though he's a Red Sox fan, Big Ben has homered here. If you know anything about Yankee fans, you know I'm biting the bullet, as it were, here.