A gritty American film for international, mature people

Rating: 8/10 (21 October 2010)

I had been waiting for a movie that would gave me the same feeling of the good old "US of A" that the original "Taking of Pelham 123" did back in the seventies, and when I saw the shorts for this film, I was pretty sure that this was it. . . I wasn't disappointed. There are so many movies that bore the older person (50ish) who actually watches a lot of movies these days, from Hollywood (or the USA). E.g. the 2009 version of "taking of Pelham 123"; I just couldn't stomach going to see it. It would make me feel sick to see such an original film; so gritty American - no pretense to know the rest of the world, redone in "Hollywood". Without telling you any spoiler, or anything that adds to what is already known from the short or the synopsis; this film, while I rate it 8/10 (the averaged estimate is perfect), I would for instance rate a new Harry Potter film, or Avatar at about 6 or maybe 7 /10. So this gives you some idea of how 'suited to the mature, international person' (I'm Australian), that wants to see a well made, unpretentious American film, likes this type of film. The Boston accent is so good an Australian actually can't walk away not speaking partly in Boston accent. The scenes and filmography are cleverly done so as to also be unpretentious - just raw Boston (I imagine). The story is smart enough to leave plenty of questionings at the end, while still creating its own clichés that help the watcher understand themes, feelings, and results. All actors performed well. Mature people are able to ignore bad past media (press), and know when they are seeing good actors, and all were excellently cast, and did their jobs incredibly believably in this film. Remmer was great as the 2nd 'lead' - Hamm fantastic as the hard cop with conscience, Hall also great as a wholesome bank clerk. I just could not take my eyes off her lips - the shape of her lips and the accent (she as others) had, were engrossing. Affleck - totally believable in his part and his making of this film shows great depth and maturity of understanding the movie business. He's not lightweight in his films, like so many coming out of USA these days. If you are a mature person, with intelligence, who knows the world a bit, and can take USA as it is, you will *certainly* enjoy this film.