The Town (2010)

Rating: 7/10 (14 December 2011)

Affleck's follow up to Gone Baby, Gone is both a successful heist drama and a disappointment. Affleck certainly loves his home, once again exploring Boston with a lot of love and attention for detail. I had trouble connecting to the love of where you're from/grew up, as this seems to be a very American sensibility. I doubt anywhere is as closed minded as somewhere in this film, but I'll take Affleck's word for it. The film also seems to be lingering around Heat territory for far too long. Affleck and Renner are just too different to really care. Affleck is the sweet criminal, and Renner is the sociopath. Drawing the parallels between them just makes you question why they were ever friends. What the film does achieve is showing Affleck as a director with an excellent eye on style and pacing. He shoots the character driven scenes with just as much attention and thought as he does the action scenes. Gone Baby, Gone was a real grower for me and I hope The Town will be the same.