Affleck belongs BEHIND the camera

Rating: 7/10 (19 September 2010)

Ben Afflecks decade long fall from grace was almost a thing of beauty. In 1997 having written and starred in the smash hit Good Will Hunting Affleck, along with co-writer and co-star Matt Damon, was seen as one of Hollywoods great new hopes. But the curse of having "next big thing" preface his name in almost every interview for a year struck Affleck pretty badly. Matt Damon chose some great roles to further his career and has given us some excellent performances. If you don't agree with me, watch the criminally overlooked The Informant!, Damon's portrayal of idiot Mark Whitacre is on a par with William H. Macy in Fargo.
Ben, on the other hand, went on to act in some truly awful films, hitting his lowest point in what is arguably one of the worst films of this decade, Gigli. At that stage it seemed all the votes were in and counted; Ben Affleck just could not act. A somewhat solid performance in Hollywoodland did little to change peoples minds about his acting ability. Then in 2007 he stepped behind the camera for Gone Baby Gone, and his younger brother Casey showed us who had the real acting skills in the Affleck household. However it was the surprisingly good direction of Gone Baby Gone which caught a lot of peoples attention. Surely the man who played a plank in Pearl Harbour could not be such a competent Director?
The Town, like Affleck's directorial debut, is an adaptation of a novel. The story centres around Afflecks character Doug MacRay and his criminal friends living in the blue-collar neighbourhood of Charlestown, Boston. Together they form a team of bank robbers with a 100% success rate so far. MacRay knows that his luck may not last so decides to do one last big take before leaving Boston forever. His friends and family seem to take this as an insult and do everything in their power to make him stay. During his next heist he takes bank manager Claire hostage but eventually allows her to go free unharmed. A chance meeting in a launderette re-introduces the two, although obviously she doesn't recognise him. The two begin a relationship and against his better judgement he begins to fall for her. In the meantime his friends and family begin to resent the new MacRay and plot to bring the criminal out in him again.
Comparisons to The Departed are plenty and justified. The three bank heist scenes also echo the gripping action of Michael Mann's Heat. Whilst the one-last-job storyline is somewhat hackneyed, it is the direction and acting which make The Town a must watch. Like The Departed the cating of the supporting roles is close to perfect. Jeremy Renner does a fantastic job playing MacRay's unhinged best friend, James. However the character is a little close to William James in The Hurt Locker and once again shows that Renner needs a more challenging role to really show us what he is capable of. Pete Postlethwaite and Chris Cooper, as expected, give stellar performances and, in the scenes they have with Affleck, expose just how little on-screen presence the man really has. Whilst The Town will hardly make us reassess our opinion of Ben Affleck's acting abilities, it does show us that when he steps behind the camera, he's a man to watch.