Cinema Verdict Review: The Town

The Town

OPENING: 09/17/2010

STUDIO: Warner Bros.

RUN TIME: 123 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Welcome to the bank robbery capitol of America.

Opening Statement
For a certain window of time in the early part of the 21st Century, Ben Affleck became Hollywood’s whipping boy. Maybe it was all the tabloid attention he was getting due to his high-profile relationships with two women named Jennifer; maybe it was the level of his stardom in contrast to his seemingly limited talents, but the man took a lot of flack. Then in 2007, Affleck directed the sensitive crime drama Gone, Baby, Gone. The film was well-regarded by critics and audiences, almost instantly earning Affleck a measure of respect and credibility he hadn’t enjoyed since the Good Will Hunting days. Now Affleck has returned to the directing game, hoping to repeat his success by offering up The Town, another crime drama set in Boston. While it’s not quite as memorable as its predecessor, it’s another well-made flick that confirms Affleck knows what he’s doing behind the camera.

Facts of the Case
The film’s title refers to Charlestown, a neighborhood in Boston which just so happens to be the bank robbery capital of the world. At least, that’s what the film itself informs us as it begins. It’s said that bank robbery is pretty much a family tradition in Charlestown, a craft passed down from father to son over the years. One of those sons is Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), who’s pulled off several successful jobs in the past with his tight-knit four-man team. Doug’s latest heist went reasonably well, but the team is a little worried that a female bank employee named Claire (Rebecca Hall, Vicky Christina Barcelona) may have seen and heard a little too much. It’s suggested that Doug should find her, maybe scare her a little bit and ensure that she doesn’t try to talk to the cops about what she may or may not know.

Doug finds Claire in a local Laundromat and intends to follow her home, but things don’t quite go as planned. The two end up chatting casually with each other and before you can say, “very inadvisable idea,” they’re in a romantic relationship. Naturally, Claire doesn’t know that Doug was one of the masked men holding a gun to her head not so long ago. This new relationship combined with the increasingly risky nature of the assignments Doug is given starts to make our protagonist contemplate his life. He wants to leave Charlestown, take his new girlfriend down to Miami and simply start over. Alas, he’s going to have to pull off one last job first.

The Evidence
The basic plot framework of The Town is fairly standard-issue material; interesting enough but far from original. We’ve seen this movie before, and more importantly we’ve seen better, smarter versions of it before (the promotional materials for the film have invited comparisons to The Departed, which did this sort of thing with greater panache). Fortunately, Affleck’s latest outing avoids throwaway-movie-of-the-week status due to its sturdy craftsmanship and strong performances from its cast.

The most interesting thing about The Town is the manner in which it explores the idea that some people don’t so much choose to be criminals as slip into the profession by default. Doug was once a promising hockey player, but after that didn’t work on he had to rely on the old family trade. He doesn’t seem to enjoy robbing banks and certainly would take no pleasure in hurting people, but it’s what he knows how to do. This works out well enough for a while, until the dynamic between the players involved starts to change. Doug wants to get out of the game, his buddy James (Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker) is getting intoxicated on the thrill of it all and their employer (Pete Postelthwaite, Clash of the Titans) wants to make sure his crew is going to keep doing work on a regular basis. The more Doug pulls away, the tighter the noose around his neck becomes. Soon, he’s trying to escape via digging in even deeper.

Affleck and Hall are quiet and appealing as the two lovers at the center of the story. They’re friendly, reasonable people surrounded by hard-edged, relentless individuals. Jeremy Renner’s performance has echoes of his work in The Hurt Locker; though this character gets sloppier as his excitement level builds. Jon Hamm (who does such remarkable work on Mad Men) gets one of his first substantial cinematic roles an FBI Agent who lacks the evidence he needs to convict Doug but not the will to find it. Postelthwaite and Chris Cooper (Breach) both strike very interesting notes in their limited screen time. Heck, even Blake Lively (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is persuasive as Doug’s whiny, drug-addled ex-girlfriend. One could say the performances in this film deserve a better script, but let’s look at the bright side: these folks turn what could have been a mediocre movie into a compelling one.

Things are solid on a technical level, as Affleck once again does a fine job of immersing us in his beloved hometown setting (atmospheric work from cinematographer Robert Elswitt helps, too). The action scenes are sometimes a bit over-the-top for a film otherwise rooted in low-key realism, but they’re directed with focus and clarity. Then there are moments where Affleck manages to capture something a bit deeper than what the dialogue has to offer; an assortment of thoughtful close-ups and long shots that are elegant in their silence.

Closing Statement
The Town is a reasonably classy little action movie. The pieces are in place for a terrific film, but the middling screenplay prevents it from being anymore more than, “pretty good.” Not a must-see, but it’s worth a look.

The Verdict
7/10

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