The contemporary Heat

Rating: 8/10 (3 September 2011)

"The Town" is very much the contemporary "Heat." The story is pretty similar; a crew of four men who take down scores, all the while with law enforcement hot on their tails. Yet, there's a new flavor to the plot. One of these members (Ben Affleck) romances a bank manager (Rebecca Hall) from the last score they took down. This addition to the story makes it more interesting, for it adds both romance and tension. Will Ben Affleck's character say something that will take him and his crew down because of this woman? Will the woman figure out who he is? Will he come clean and tell her who he is? All of these questions make for a great movie.
The performances are solid. The actors make the sympathy lie with the robberies and our disgust with the police, especially with Jeremy Renner as the loose cannon Jem and John Hamm as the lead FBI investigator. I even liked Ben Affleck in this movie, whom I'm not a big fan of. He proves himself both a decent actor and a witty director.
The only problem I had with this film is some of the plot holes and the lack of common sense in some of the characters. For instance, why do the robbers stay in Boston and not hit other cities to help trip up the police? When the feds are closing in, why don't they tap the phones of the robbers? They very easily could have caught them all before the big, bloody finale. Then again, this is Hollywood. As viewers, we have to suspend our disbelief for two hours when seeing a movie. Even so, little things like these nag me throughout the movie. Nevertheless, "The Town" is a good movie to watch. It has enough humor, action, violence, suspense, and drama to make it move at a solid pace.
My rating: *** out of ****