We all remember when we were young hooligans running freely on the streets, playing cops and robbers with our buddies. It would usually end in a mess of anger, one kid saying he "shot" another kid, and that kid outwardly challenging the notion, until finally everyone had to break off and go home for dinner. In retrospect, it wasn't actually that much fun. However, its sole purpose was to get the adrenaline rushing and our hearts beating quickly, and if that's likewise the main goal of Ben Affleck's second directorial effort The Town, then I guess it succeeds.
The story follows Affleck who's directing himself here as Doug MacRay, an upstart Bostonian with a penchant for bank robbery and a supposed weakness for the beautiful women he robs. After an armed burglary with his team of cronies, which include his lifelong friend Jimmy Coughlin (a darkly genius performance by Jeremy Renner), MacRay finds himself, through various events, head over heels for the manager of the bank he just robbed. Meanwhile, the feds are now involved and they're pissed. Push comes to shove, shit hits the fan, and you've got yourself a fairly explosive premise for a thrilling action-drama.
In a film about Boston's crime world and the many rich characters that must reside there, one would hope for a cast up to the task, and The Town swiftly delivers. Firstly, and most obviously, Affleck probably does some of the best work of his career here. Perhaps he's realized that some of the best acting is done with everything but the mouth. It's not that I don't like Affleck; on the contrary, I always thought he was very talented but didn't really fully realize it, and therefore has a resume of misfires and squandered opportunities. Here, he finally seems to step up to the plate, and if this film is any indication, I'm sure his batting average will begin to climb towards hall-of-fame numbers very quickly.
The previously mentioned Jeremy Renner is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. His frightening hard-ass Jimmy is a perfect follow-up to Renner's haunting Oscar-nominated performance in The Hurt Locker (2009). He allows just enough breathing room for audience sympathy towards his character, while simultaneously packing a scary looking punch. Just so you know, this man will kill you if you look at him the wrong way. Blake Lively (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) turns in a sophisticated performance as Jimmy's sister, and Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) seems to fall naturally into the role of the distraught bank manager. Her life seems to take some severe turns for the worse in a very short manner of time, and she appropriately conveys what that might be like. Not good, if you're wondering.
Pete Postlethwaite (The Usual Suspects) is featured briefly here, and, if he's never let you down before, he's not about to do so now. Looking frail as ever (somehow this makes the man more frightening), Postlethwaite is given the best scene and round of dialogue in the film, and by golly its a joy to watch (albeit a joy that gives you the willies).
The only performance I was left unconvinced by, and I don't even necessarily believe it was the fault of the actor, is Jon Hamm's turn as FBI agent Adam Frawley, who is in charge of catching Boston's most notorious bank robbers. Perhaps I missed what Affleck was trying to convey with this character, but I was mostly left confused by Frawley. Was he supposed to be a bumbling, loud-mouthed idiot, burdened to a job he couldn't quite handle, or was he supposed to be a suave, smooth talking manipulator, one step ahead of the robbers at all times? Certain scenes suggest the former, while others suggest the latter. And perhaps this is a realistic depiction of what many FBI agents are indeed like. You win some, you lose some. Did it work for me in this particular film? Not really.
If this is a flaw in the writing, its one of few as, for the most part, the script was spot-on. Fast talking dialogue is of course a must in a Boston crime film (think The Departed) but writers Peter Craig, Aaron Stockard and Affleck have a flare for infusing wit and poetic prose amongst all the expected cussing and yelling, creating a finely tuned narrative that never gets boring and allows the characters to rise from the depths of predictable crime drama like a phoenix from the ashes.
Affleck is beginning to make people stop and stare as he grows increasingly more confident behind the camera. He directs with a steady hand here, allowing his vision to shine through. His action sequences are very impressive, both technically and aesthetically, and the pacing of the film is appropriately quick, so that you'll never be bored, even with the film running over the two-hour mark.
His first film, Gone Baby Gone (2007), was an eerily effective thriller whose only shortcoming was in its tacked on climax, which, in my opinion, rendered moot everything that came before it. Similarly, The Town is mostly a very good film, until the final act conjures up a bit of confusion. The Town draws from very tricky subject matter, in that the story is being told mainly from a criminal's perspective, and MacRay is just that: a criminal. However, the end of the film might have me believe that MacRay recognizing his mistakes as a criminal is redemption enough. Not in my book. The moral compass might be a bit broken here.
And so, just as Gone Baby Gone impressed me immensely for four fifths of a movie and then sadly let me down in its conclusion, Affleck's second feature The Town follows suit. But then I guess it's a little like the childhood game of cops and robbers: fun, until someone spoils it right at the end.
FINAL SCORE: 3/5
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