Town of Thieves

Rating: Null/10 (24 January 2011)

After seeing a series of bad Hollywood movies released in 2010 (with one exception called 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'), finally I find something worthy. Ben Affleck's 'The Town' is gripping, gritty, suspenseful but above all, human. While the film is very much plot driven as it revolves around a series of bank robberies, it is the excellently carved characters that stay with the viewers.
While I do see some resemblance to Michael Mann's 'Heat' especially how the romantic angle juxtaposes with the heist angle and the sequences leading to the conclusion, 'The Town' still remains its own film especially regarding how it's been written (storytelling and characters). Moreover, in addition to being a suspense thriller and a human drama, 'The Town' has plenty of dark humour.
While the story and characters are properly developed, 'The Town' is a well-made film with excellent editing, lighting, cinematography and score. The heist sequences are executed brilliantly. However, the sex scenes appear a little rushed.
Ben Affleck springs a surprise, both as actor and director. Even though he has delivered a few impressive performances (such as in 'Changing Lanes', 'Extract', 'State of Play' and 'Hollywoodland'), I never expected him to pull off someone as complex as Doug MacRay, but he does it effortlessly. It's good to see him develop into a fine actor. Likewise, I wasn't sure whether he, as director, would be able to pull off such a big movie with a complicated story, but he's done it.
The rest of the cast, that includes Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Chris Cooper, Pete Postlethwaite, Jon Hamm and Blake Lively are first rate. I never thought of Lively much as an actress but here she is brilliant as is Rebecca Hall, the traumatized bank manager who falls in love with one of her 'attackers'. Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner are terrific as the no-nonsense copper and ruthless psychopath, respectively. Postlethwaite and Cooper are scene stealers with their couple of scenes.
'The Town' is among the best heist movies of recent time. I would be looking forward to Affleck's future directorial ventures.