The Town (2010)

There was a lot of speculation that THE TOWN, Ben Affleck’s sophomore feature as a director, might earn a Best Picture nomination and/or a screenplay nomination for Affleck and his co-writers. Neither of those things happened, though Jeremy Renner scored his second acting nomination in as many years as a reckless bank thief. I’m not sure if the film deserved to replace any of those that eventually did get nominated, but make no mistake – THE TOWN is a well-acted, intense and fun-to-watch thriller, and it marks a noticeable step forward in Affleck’s skill as a director. His “Gone Baby Gone” was a solid debut; now Affleck is developing a style.

Affleck also stars here as Doug MacRay in the unoriginal setup of a criminal discovering that his days on the job are numbered but too pulled by the allure of one more great attempt to say no. The story is complicated here when Doug develops feelings for a bank manager (played by Rebecca Hall) who was just one of his victims days before and, because of the disguises worn by Doug and his partners, is unaware that the man who once held her at gunpoint and drove her out of Boston until her toes were touching the Atlantic Ocean is now her boyfriend.

THE TOWN features some semi-familiar but well-executed sub-plots with regards to the men with the brains pulling the strings behind the crime syndicate. Here, that man is played to perfection by Pete Postlethwaite in what would sadly turn out to be a posthumous performance. John Hamm, of “Mad Men” fame, plays the FBI agent devoting every bit of his attention to taking down this particular group of individuals.

The best scenes in THE TOWN happen when Affleck taps his inner-Hitchcock. There’s an unforgettable sequence involving the unexpected appearance of Renner’s James Coughlin at an outdoor café where Doug and Hall’s Claire are having lunch that turns into a suspense-filled sight game as Affleck works to hide the tattoo on the back of Renner’s neck from Hall’s view; that tattoo is the only identifiable mark on any of the men that she can remember from the bank robbery. It is a genius sequence. Another great moment is a climactic heist that takes the robbers into the bowels of Affleck’s hallowed Fenway Park.

If I’m being really picky, THE TOWN was probably a little long at 125 minutes, and I was surprised to see Affleck also release a 150-minute director’s cut, which tells me that he still has a little to learn about making choices to tighten up a story, though I did not see the extended cut to be able to tell you whether or not those extra minutes were justified or add anything of value to the story.

But for a pure cinematic thrill-ride, it’s hard to quarrel with a movie like this. The acting is excellent, even from Affleck himself, a performer I’d previously dismissed as much more of a lightweight than his co-Oscar-winning writing partner and BFF Matt Damon. Here, Affleck is emotionally tight and cuts a handsome, scruffy leading man figure as Doug. He is surrounded by equally strong performances, and it’s not hard to see why Renner stood out to the acting branch of the Academy this year.

THE TOWN makes me look forward to more work from Ben Affleck The Director, who with only two pictures has established a voice as a storyteller of down-and-out, suburban Boston family tales of compromised dreams and violence. This one, if you haven’t seen it, is worth your time…at least the original running time.

3.0 out of 4