Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner & Jon Hamm
An engaging crime drama with good performances all around and proving Ben Affleck to be a promising director after this and his debut Gone Baby Gone.
Originally establishing his fame, first through small supporting roles and then through his screenwriting credit for Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck soon became a Hollywood star until a string of flops and his relationship with Jennifer Lopez seeing his withdraw from acting for a while. Building his career back up again with smaller roles, Affleck made a bigger name for himself in 2007 when he directed the film Gone Baby Gone which received much critical acclaim. Further establishing himself as a director, Affleck now brings the film The Town to cinemas whilst also casting himself in a lead role to further boost his acting career too. The result is a solidly entertaining crime drama that proves Gone Baby Gone was no fluke when it comes to Affleck’s directing talent whilst also reminding us that Affleck is a very capable actor.
After a successful bank robbery where he and his team also kidnapped the bank manager to secure their getaway, Doug MacRay (Affleck) takes it upon himself to monitor the movements of the bank manager, Claire Keesey (Hall), afterwards to ensure she hadn’t witnessed anything during the robbery that could betray them to the FBI much to the disagreement of his friend Coughlin (Renner) who’d rather get rid of her and be done with it. Reaching out to Claire when he witnesses her grief, MacRay finds himself attracted to her and the pair start a relationship even though Claire is unaware of MacRay’s role in the robbery that left her traumatized and unbeknownst to Coughlin. Problems arise when FBI agent Frawley (Hamm) suspects the guilt of MacRay and his gang and discovers his relationship with Claire meanwhile MacRay is under pressure to pull more heists when he wants to leave town with Claire and begin a new life.
While The Town includes many themes that are somewhat clichéd in the crime genre such as the crook who wants to put it all behind him, the relationship to an innocent unaware of their past or the reluctance to abandon those they grew up with as well as the staging of heists and robberies themselves, The Town is a film that proves that it’s the execution of such themes that matters more in film. Affleck proves again, after the excellent Gone Baby Gone, to be a confident director focusing on character and performances most of all but also able to film bank robbery sequences that approach the quality of those of Michael Mann’s Heat whilst not feeling derivative of them. Affleck also films again in his native Boston where he demonstrates a clear love and respect for the kinds of communities in which he grew up infusing the characters and their relationships with each other with local character and culture. Affleck also approaches the film’s central romance carefully to avoid the kinds of cliché of films such as those he starred in himself in the middle of his career being sure to take the relationship of Claire and MacRay slowly and quite different from the usual approach with the characters meeting because of Claire’s trauma and with them both sharing their worst tragedies that, when MacRay’s secret about his role in her trauma is about to be exposed, the feelings against MacRay are mixed. There is anger at against him for his deceit yet also sympathy in knowing his desire to change.
In addition to strong direction, Affleck also puts in a good performance as MacRay making him sympathetic despite his crimes and despite his secrets from Claire providing a grounding presence for the film. Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) is engaging as Claire, vulnerable though not weak while Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) gives a tense performance as MacRay’s partner Coughlin. Renner’s performance is one of simmering rage ready to explode violently even making him a threatening presence to those who might call him friend. Jon Hamm (TV’s Mad Men) also gives a good performance as FBI agent Frawley in a role that could easily have been underwritten as just the guy out to bring MacRay down, but is instead, and with Hamm fulfilling the role, one that has more depth as Hamm gives the character a Machiavellian quality as he pieces together the puzzle of who is guilty and how whilst playing the women in MacRay’s life like Claire and an ex, Coughlin’s sister, played by Blake Lively against each other without them ever meeting. Supporting roles are filled well too with Pete Postlethwaite as an intimidating crime boss masquerading as a florist and Chris Cooper in a single scene as MacRay’s imprisoned father.
While not reinventing the crime genre, conforming to several well worn themes and character types, The Town is still very enjoyable for the execution of the story with confident direction by Affleck resulting in some tense and exciting sequences and some strong performances from the cast. The film and it’s ending won’t be as memorable as that of Gone Baby Gone but The Town proves Affleck once again capable of being an actor who can direct.
Rating: 4/5
