Crime & Romance In Charlestown

Rating: 9/10 (1 May 2013)

"The Town" is a real crowd-pleaser in which some exciting action sequences are complemented by quieter passages during which a romance develops in very unusual circumstances. There's so much intensity about everything that happens on screen that there's never a point at which the audience's interest is allowed to flag, even for the briefest moment and the characters are so well developed that they add real interest and substance to everything that happens.
The story is based on Chuck Hogan's novel "Prince Of Thieves" and is set in Charlestown, a neighbourhood of Boston which is reputed to be the bank robbery capital of America. This is a tough area in which the skills associated with bank robbery are frequently passed down from father to son and where broken homes are common. One of the real strengths of "The Town" is the powerful and authentic way in which this neighbourhood and its people are depicted. This is done so successfully that the atmosphere of the place and the values of its residents make an indelible impression on everyone who sees the movie.
Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is a typical product of Charlestown. He leads a gang of four friends that rob banks and armoured cars and like his father before him, works for local crime boss Fergie Colm (Pete Postlethwaite). Doug's crew have remained successful because of their professionalism. All their jobs are well planned and great care is always taken to ensure that no evidence is left which could link them to their robberies.
Things start to become complicated for Doug after a robbery during which his gang takes bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) hostage. She's subsequently released unharmed but they start to become concerned about whether she can identify them. Their concern is heightened when they discover that she lives just a few blocks away and gang member Jem Coughlin (Jeremy Renner) wants to keep tabs on her. Jem's a particularly violent character with a short fuse and so Doug volunteers to do the job himself.
Doug meets Claire in a Laundromat and the couple are immediately attracted to each other. It soon becomes clear that Claire would be able to identify Jem because she caught sight of a very distinctive tattoo on his neck. Doug convinces her that it would be dangerous for her to pass this information on to the FBI and their relationship continues to grow steadily. Doug becomes increasingly disillusioned with his way of life and wants to leave it and Charlestown behind. He soon learns, however, that escape is almost impossible and to make matters worse, an FBI team led by Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is closing in.
Ben Affleck, in only his second film as a director, does a great job in making the action sequences exciting and fascinating to watch and also takes great care in the way that he enables the characters to develop. There's a great deal of tension in "The Town". For example, during Doug and Claire's conversations, when she knows nothing about his involvement in her abduction and then on later occasions with Jem, Fergie and ex-girlfriend Krista (Blake Lively) when Doug decides he wants to leave Charlestown.
In a movie full of good performances, Jeremy Renner excels as the volatile Jem who seems to become increasingly unpredictable as the story progresses and Rebecca Hall stands out in her role as the only totally sympathetic character in the cast. Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite are exceptional in their relatively small parts and Jon Hamm is very determined as the FBI agent who's ready to resort to any measure in order to hunt the gang down.