Ben Affleck redeems himself

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2010)

Charlestown, Boston is not your ideal holiday destination, nor is it a place you'd want to raise a family. It 'boasts' the highest number of kidnappings and armed robberies in the world. For many of its inhabitants, crime is sadly a genetic trait.
Ben Affleck plays Doug MacRay, a stonemason who moonlights as an armed robber. Like him, his gang is disciplined, dedicated and dangerous. During a routine bank score, one of the managers, Claire (Rebecca Hall) is left traumatized. Fearing that she may somehow implicate them, James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), the capricious one, decides that she should be murdered. However, after a chance meeting with Claire, MacRay is moved by her vulnerability and an unlikely chemistry develops between them, prompting MacRay to examine himself.
For once cops aren't dim-witted. FBI agent Frawley is every bit the crime-fighting force he should be. His real life name (Jon Hamm) may suggest otherwise, however, his performance is more lean than streaky. Pete Postlethwaite's cameo as the cadaverous Irish linchpin will unnerve you. His cover is as a florist, but there's nothing flowery about his character.
Watching this film, I was reminded of Michael Mann's 'Heat' and John Frankenheimer's 'Ronin'. Affleck would not be able to deny that his gunfights and car chases were inspired by both films, but he wouldn't have to: they have a flair of their own. The only cliché I noticed was a superfluous exercise scene, but it was so brief as to be almost subliminal (the sight of an outrageously chiselled six-pack is hardly a criticism).
Affleck has partly redeemed himself with this film. Only 'partly' because further penance is required before he can be totally absolved for the sins that were 'Gigli' and 'Pearl Harbor'. Along with his directorship of 'Gone Baby Gone', 'The Town' is a not too tardy reminder that he once won an Oscar for his ability to tell a good story.
www.scottishreview.net