Affleeeeeeck insures "The Town"!

Rating: 9/10 (7 October 2010)

The talk of the town is that Ben Affleck's "The Town" will be a legitimate power player during this year's movie awards season. After visiting "The Town", I could see why. Big Ben has proved one more time that he can pass for a legitimate movie director with another triumphant directorial effort in his sophomoric try behind the lens. His directorial debut was the very good "Gone Baby Gone". The narrative of "The Town" resides in the blue-collar town of Charlestown; a suburb of Boston where bank robberies are of Boston Common. Affleck stars as Doug Macray, the bank robber leader of a gang of four thieves who habitually steal away in the heart of Charlestown; and you can take that to the bank! Jeremy Renner co-stars as Macray's right-hand hot-tempered robbery man James Coughlin, who will take prisoners and do whatever it takes for his victims to cough up the cashola. Jon Hamm is sandwiched here as FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley, a mad man whose relentless pursuit of Macray and Co. takes center stage several times in "The Town". Rebecca Hall is the hall female monitor (whatever that means) in this one portraying Claire Keesey, a bank hostage victim of Macray who falls in love with him; being unaware that it was a Bad Doug that held her hostage during a bank heist. Pete Postlethwaite is Fergie Colm, a malicious Charlestown criminal kingpin who "not Colmy" barks the orders to Macray and his crew for their bank robbery gigs. In other words, I have a feeling its not going to be a good night when this Fergie is around. Yep, the gossip is true, Blake Lively co-stars as Krista Coughlin, Dougie's sleazy ex-girlfriend who is also James' sister. But in reality, the main character of "The Town" is Boston. Affleck is uplifted by the profound love of his hometown and Bentown, I mean Beantown, becomes the centerpiece to the revolving narrative of the movie. Affleck's directorial skills in "The Town" are potent, enthralling, and unpretentious. He is deserving of a Best Director Academy Award nomination for painting "The Town" red with some stirring action-packed sequences, and undoubtedly for the story's character interplay. Credit also goes to Ben and co-writer Peter Craig for scripting "The Town" with its words. All the aforementioned performances are worthy of Oscar nominations. But I was primarily taken back by Lively's lively emotional punch as Krista, Renner's stellar work as brother James, and Pistol Pete Postlethwaite himself for his brawny performance as the despicable Fergie (that's a first, "despicable" and "Fergie" in the same sentence). I was also down with The Town's musical score, art direction, and most of all for Robert Elswit's astounding cinematography; the witty Elswit should garner a Best Cinematography Academy Award nomination come Oscar time. So I think it's about time you hit the town and cinematically reside in "The Town" for a couple of hours, Big Ben will make sure its worth your time! ***** Excellent