Believable and gritty as well as thrilling and fast paced!

Rating: 10/10 (21 September 2010)

'THE TOWN': Five Stars (Out of Five)
Ben Affleck, like many 'A' list celebrities, has had a career of pretty big ups and pretty low downs. He broke on to the scene as a regular in Kevin Smith movies, first as a supporting antagonist in 'MALLRATS' and then as the romantic lead in the critically acclaimed 'CHASING AMY'. He followed that up by winning an Oscar for co-writing 'GOOD WILL HUNTING', with buddy Matt Damon, and was poised for super stardom as well as critical darling fame but instead he went for almost solely the paycheck and did one big, mostly critically panned, blockbuster after another. Then he made four critical and financial duds in a row in 2003 and 2004 ('GIGLI', 'PAYCHECK', 'JERSEY GIRL' and 'SURVIVING Christmas') and smartly laid low and disappeared for a couple years after that. He took some time to 'reinvent himself' and broke back on to the scene in 2006 with a Golden Globe nominated performance in 'HOLLYWOODLAND' (as well as a small impressive ensemble turn in 'SMOKIN' ACES') and then surprised almost everyone with his critically showered directorial debut in 'GONE BABY GONE' (which he also co-wrote the screenplay). He stayed behind the camera and let brother Casey star in what became one of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2007. Now he's back co-writing and directing again to even more impressive results (as well as starring this time around) with 'THE TOWN' which is easily one of the best films of the year.
In the film Affleck plays anti hero Doug MacRay the leader of a team of bank robbers living in Charlestown, a neighborhood in Boston that (as the movie informs us very early on) is the world's capitol for bank robberies (as well as other crimes). Apparently crooks are bread there and the business is passed down from father to son. While pulling a heist, at the opening of the movie, Doug and his crew take a bank manager (played by Rebecca Hall) hostage. They let her go only to discover she lives just a few blocks away from them. Doug takes it upon himself to find out how much information she knows and might be giving to the authorities and ends up falling for her. This causes drama with his best friend James (played by Jeremy Renner, last year's Oscar nominee for 'THE HURT LOCKER') who also is upset with Doug's plans of skipping town (after of course 'one more big job'). There's additional conflict brought on by two FBI agents (played by 'MAD MEN's Jon Hamm and 'LOST's Titus Welliver, the 'Man in Black') whom are trying to find enough evidence to put the boys away for good. Blake Lively co-stars as Jame's single mother sister and Doug's ex girlfriend who's had her problems with drugs.
The film is rich in character drama and intriguing dialog which makes the action that much more compelling and the action is breathtaking; it's believable and gritty as well as thrilling and fast paced. It kind of puts the viewer in an odd place seeing as your kind of influenced into rooting for the 'bad guys', which seems more and more common in film lately. That's the power of film though; a movie like this can present these guys to you, who do horrible things, and you still end up feeling sorry for them and relating to them on some level. A great deal of that is thanks to the writing and Affleck's amazing directing. He has such a key eye for interesting visuals that it's kind of remarkable to think he starred in so many cheesy half ass-ed movies. The acting is all outstanding as well especially Affleck and Renner (who makes a great 'wild card'). The film is based on the award winning novel 'Prince Of Thieves' by Chuck Hogan which won the Hammett Prize in 2005 for 'excellence in crime writing'. The film already has a ton of Oscar buzz around it and I predict it will at least get a best picture nod and hopefully directing for Affleck as well. Some say it might be a little too violent for the Academy's taste but if you think about it three out of the last four movies to win best picture were all violent action films ('THE HURT LOCKER', 'THE DEPARTED' and 'NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN'). This film is in the same league as those, in my personal opinion better, I believe it will be long remembered as a classic crime drama. Yet another masterpiece from Ben Affleck!
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