A flawed, yet interesting effort from Ben Affleck

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2016)

To clarify I just want to say that I like Ben Affleck's work. I have nothing against the guy and believe that his work in Argo and Gone Girl are pretty respectable. This is why I was excited to watch The Town, his one big return to Hollywood after the warm yet unnoticeable reaction Gone Baby Gone received. The premise appears to be intriguing with some great talent involved. Affleck, Rebecca Hall, John Ham, Jeremmy Renner and a pretty respectable cast of background characters seem to promise at least a decent pay off in terms of the acting department. When the film starts with a very well filmed bank robbery, the films starts very promising. The opening sequence appears to set the tone amazingly, yet, the film never picks up after that. We are supposed to care about this developing relationship between Affleck and Hall and it never delivers. The relationship looks more like a lazy chick-flick rather than the backdrop of a crime drama. What is respectable of this movie are the robbery sequences, which shows that Affleck is more suited for the quick paced actions rather than the drama. Still a nice try, but now it feels nothing but a community theater rehearsal to prepare for the critically acclaimed Argo.