Ben Affleck triumphs in his second directing debut. A terrific heist movie mostly all round

Rating: 8/10 (29 September 2010)

Ben Affleck made his first directing debut with Gone Baby Gone in 2007, which is rumoured to be fantastic as I haven't seen it. If that is the case and after watching The Town. It looks more like the case. Ben Affleck has always been a pretty solid actor but never one to get my guns blazing in my book, which just goes to show his real talent lies in directing.
The Town is set in Charlestown, USA where a group of men led by Douglas MacRay (Ben Affleck) including his best friend James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Locker) for a living, storm armoured cars and rob banks for money. One bank they rob, they end up taking a hostage of pretty bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). Meanwhile the FBI including the head of the investigation Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) has been after Doug and his men for years and is determined to bring them down. Things become complicated for Doug when he falls for Claire and they embark on a romance. Will she find out the truth? As he also has to deal with his boss Fergus, a drug lord who poses as a florist (Pete Postelthwaite).
Iniatally some of the weaknesses of this movie that stopped me giving this higher than an 8 is the formulaic script that needed a lot more work and the over familiar story. But the action heist sequences are top notch and manage to create suspense and tension and are exciting to watch due to some terrific stunt driving and being exquisitely shot and edited to perfection by Affleck. He has a keen eye when it comes to these scenes, but he also manages to pull out excellent performances from his cast all round, which refreshes the over-familiar plot. Affleck himself gives a reasonable performance of a man torn between his life, friend and the woman he cares about. Jeremy Renner gives a solid supporting performance, whilst Postelthwaite is memorably creepy as Fergus and Blake Lively as tarty mum Krista who has the hots for Doug perfectly portrays a woman constantly high on drugs but feels trapped by the life she leads and wants to escape but can't or won't. The two strongest performances though come from Jon Hamm as FBI Crawley, who gets some terrific one liners, but is determined to catch Doug and Rebbeca Hall as Claire who is warm and intelligent and makes you feel for her predicament.
What is surprisingly elitist about the film is from a basic script the actors manage to turn the dialogue into something more meaningful and heartfelt, which is a incredible accomplishment. The cinematography is brilliant of the town being hard, gritty and realistic and the violence itself is handled maturely, where it is never glamorised but shown in all it's brutality. The music is superb and there are some clever disguises when they pull off the bank heists and a few moments of laughter particularly when Doug and the others have the masks of nuns and after pulling off an armoured heist, they get out of the car with the money and automatic weapons and a cop sitting in a car in the next lane sees them. They stare at each other and then he looks away was funny. The romance between Doug and Claire, though I never believed they were in love and there isn't as much romantic chemistry between them. They care about each other and the two actors are comfortable enough on screen to make us think that. But also it's more of a romance of need almost, where Claire is fractured emotionally after her hostage experience and Doug who wants to get out of the life he leads. They are like two lost souls, parts missing from each other and when they meet they are whole.
One other surprising aspect, which makes this film refreshing is the ending, which keeps you guessing. Will Doug gets away from the police with Claire at his side? Well watch The Town and find out for yourself. This is a great movie all round and is better than average thanks to superb directing, acting and suspenseful bank heists. Thanks to Affleck (and lets hope he directs more films and that they are just as good). This town is well worth visiting and a film that is worth your own time to see.