Believe it or not, Ben Affleck is back

Rating: 8/10 (17 October 2010)

Younger viewers may not remember this but back in the mid to late nineties Ben Affleck was actually considered pretty cool. Between starring in Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy" & "Dogma", he won an Oscar for co-writing "Good Will Hunting" and hit the big time in Michael Bay's "Armageddon". However, as the saying goes, what goes up must come down. Following repeated embarrassments like "Reindeer Games", "Pearl Harbor", "Daredevil" and especially "Gigli", Affleck's cred just about vanished. In recent years, though, Affleck has slowly picked himself back up and even branched out into directing with 2007's well-received "Gone, Baby, Gone". Now comes "The Town", which sees Affleck handling acting, directing and co-writing duties.
The story takes place in the Charlestown neighbourhood of Boston and has certain similarities to Michael Mann's "Heat". Here, a group of skilled bank robbers find that their latest heist has become complicated because the woman that they took hostage lives in the same neighbourhood and could possibly identify them. When the leader of the group (Affleck) approaches the woman in an attempt to keep the situation under control he begins to have feelings for her. For the remainder of the film, the group continues to carry out ever more daring jobs as the authorities close in on them.
Despite similarities to "Heat", the film stands on it's own due to the novel relationship between robber & hostage. The robberies themselves are well-staged and serve to propel the action of the film. Helping to bring the script to life is a well-stocked cast. Affleck gives his best performance in years but he's upstaged by Jeremy Renner. Rebecca Hall is also a standout while Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite & Chris Cooper all lend quality support.
Affleck's direction is well done, too, and I'd say it shows a bit of improvement over "Gone, Baby, Gone". The soundtrack & score didn't stick in my memory but they were serviceable at the very least.
In the end, "The Town" is a captivating crime drama that nicely balances action and emotion. As critics proclaim that Affleck has re-discovered his muse I can only hope that we see more like this from him.