Award worthy crime drama.

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2011)

Ben Affleck directs, co-writes and stars in this riveting action-filled crime drama. The Charlestown neighborhood of Boston is known for turning out crafty armed robbers; generation after generation. Doug MacRay(Affleck)is a career bank robber planning his next hit. One of his crew is childhood friend Jim Coughlin(Jeremy Renner), who is quite volatile and obviously has a very short fuse. During the latest heist a bank manager Claire(Rebecca Hall)is kidnapped. Creating a major problem is the fact that Doug falls heavy for Claire thus causing doubts of judgment from mad dog Jim. That is not the worst; a head strong FBI agent(Jon Hamm)has MacCray and the recently fired bank manager under surveillance. Some very good car chases and gun battles. A strong supporting cast features: Pete Postlethwaite, Blake Lively, Owen Burk and Chris Cooper.