Affleck returns to Boston with positive results.

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2011)

"So I came here, and I put him in the f*cking ground. Did nine years for it. Now, you don't gotta thank me...but you're not walking away."
The Town is a heist thriller in the vein of Heat, in the sense that the movie is more about the personal lives of the criminals, and not the heists, themselves. There's plenty of action and conflict, but describing it as only an action movie would be overlooking a lot of The Town's depth.
This is another solid directing job by Ben Affleck, even though I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Gone, Baby, Gone. It's set in the streets of the various Boston neighborhoods that he knows best, and there's an unmistakable authenticity to the settings and characters.
What could have been a fairly typical cat and mouse tale between cops and robbers is elevated by the excellent cast, that includes a fine performance from Affleck himself, as well as Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, and others. Interactions between the characters ring true, and their relationships feel complex and genuine as they push the story forward.
I didn't find any particular aspect of The Town to be spectacular, but it's consistently solid and entertaining, as a whole. It's good to see Ben Affleck continuing the career resurgence that he's had in the last few years.