The Town: 9/10

Rating: 9/10 (27 December 2010)

Ben Affleck's previous work, Gone Baby Gone, is center around Boston. And in The Town, Ben Affleck revisits his hometown to do nothing more than talk trash on it. He must've really hated this town because both of his movies portrayed nothing but evil of Boston. Nevertheless, The Town is beautifully directed, written with great wit, and acted with much style.
The story centers around a bunch of bank robbers who have been successful at what they are doing. But the success comes to an end when Doug (Ben Affleck) decided to have a relationship with hostage Clairre (Rebecca Hall). As the relationship develops, Clairre finds out that Doug is a bank robber and it gets complicated. Meanwhile, Doug was having a casual sexual relationship with his friend's sister Krista (Blake Lively). Being jealous of Clairre, Krista decided to rat Doug and her brother's bank heist to the FBI resulting in a lot of stylized gun fires and great driving scenes. The end is obvious but it has a sad element that Ben Affleck wants the viewers to feel.
Writing, acting, and directing the whole film, Affleck's got a lot on his table but still manages to pull off every single role. As a writer, along with two others, Affleck was able to collaborate his knowledge of the Boston language and the wit of actual screen writing. As a director, he was able to direct a great gun fire sequence and a stylish car driving scene. As an actor, Affleck's performance would place second behind Jeremy Renner's. The Oscar winner continues to boost up his already impressive career with The Town.
Jeremy Renner isn't new to playing a cocky yet violent guy, but he especially stood out here with his badass attitude. Blake Lively's role was small but she gave it her all. You couldn't see her cuss in a Boston accent and have sex with Ben Affleck in Gossip Girl, could you? Well, there's the other reason to check it out.
While filled with much thrillers, the film also showed emotions. Helped by one of this year's best ensembled cast and stylish directing by Ben Affleck, The Town is an award-winning film.
OscarBuzz: Best Picture (good chance for a nod, not win), Best Screenplay (guarantee a nod, good chance for win), Best Supporting Actor (Jeremy Renner, good chance for a nod and win)