The Town (2010) Warner Bros/Action-Drama RT: 154 minutes (Alternate Cut) Rated R (strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality, drug use) Director: Ben Affleck Screenplay: Peter Craig, Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard Music: Harry Gregson-Williams and David Buckley Cinematography: Robert Elswit Release date: September 17, 2010 (US) Cast: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, George Carroll (as “Slaine”), Owen Burke, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper, Dennis McLaughlin. Box Office: $92.1M (US)/$154M (World)
Rating: ****
I’m not infallible. I never said I was. I keep deriding the sorry state of contemporary cinema over its reliance on tired genres- e.g. insipid rom-coms, frenetic superhero adventures, unscary horrors, etc.- and generic action-driven plots that forsake character development for CGI and noise. I hate to say it, but my heart isn’t in it like it used to be. Moviegoing has become something of a hollow experience nowadays. I yearn for the days when cinema was about art rather than profit. True filmmakers are artists not manufacturers of pablum for the masses. Sadly, those are in short supply in the 21st century. They’re not totally extinct however.
Perhaps I ought to preface my next point by naming those I consider true filmmakers, limiting myself to those still active today. It’s not a long list. It consists of Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Steven Spielberg and Ben Affleck. That’s right, I said Ben Affleck as in the actor who NEVER should have been cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne. I don’t think he’s a particularly good actor, but he’s a truly gifted director as evidenced by his sophomore effort, the riveting crime drama The Town. I didn’t think it was possible for him to follow up his debut feature Gone Baby Gone with something equally great, but he did. It’s as great as anything by Scorsese or the late Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon).
Affleck sets his story in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, an area regarded as the bank robbery capital of the US. It contains more thieves and bank robbers than anyplace in the country, a remarkable thing when you consider it measures only one square mile. Robbery is every bit a family trade in Charlestown as law, medicine or insurance sales. People in this life don’t usually leave of their own accord. In fact, they almost never do. They either go to prison or get killed.
At the center of The Town is Doug MacRay (Affleck), a lifelong resident of Charlestown who robs banks and armored cars with lifelong friends Jem (Renner, The Hurt Locker), Gloansy (Slaine, Gone Baby Gone) and Dez (Burke, Black Mass). The movie opens with the foursome holding up a bank in a well-orchestrated robbery. All goes according to plan until a silent alarm gets tripped. After brutally beating the manager, they take assistant manager Claire (Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) hostage to facilitate their escape and release her unharmed a short time later. When they learn she too lives in Charlestown, a paranoid Jem suggests they silence her for good. Doug has a better idea. He follows her to a laundromat where they make each other’s acquaintance. She, of course, has no idea who he really is. His objective is to find out what she told investigating FBI agent Frawley (Hamm, Baby Driver). He ends up falling for her which presents a new set of complications like keeping it secret from Jem.
Meanwhile, it doesn’t take long for Frawley to zero in on Doug and his crew. He watches and waits for them to strike again. He’s determined to catch them and put them away. Unfortunately for him and the feds, his targets are on to him. It becomes a battle of wits as each side tries to stay one step ahead of the other.
As you would expect, The Town has a few cool action set-pieces. There are three big action scenes. All are expertly staged and well executed. All possess a tangible sense of urgency. I’m especially fond of the middle sequence where the guys rob an armored car dressed as nuns. It’s an exciting scene on par with the centerpiece of Heat (the Michael Mann movie).
As much as I love action, it’s not the only thing that makes The Town great. Affleck, who co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard, takes the time to develop his characters into complex beings rather than one-dimensional character types. His own character Doug is a perfect example. When Claire asks about his family, he tells her some vague story about them living elsewhere. The truth is his mother split when he was very young and his bank robber father (Cooper, American Beauty) is in prison for the rest of his life. We also learn he was once a promising hockey player whose career was cut short by his own misdeeds. Also, he’s a recovering drug addict who has a child with his addict ex-girlfriend Kris (Lively, Gossip Girl). Claire makes him want to be a better person. Their love could be his ticket out of his life of crime. None of these details are superfluous; they’re all part of Doug’s psychological makeup. In the role, Affleck delivers one of his better performances. He’s not as stiff as he usually is.
Renner turns in a dynamic, intense performance as Jem, a loose cannon determined to avoid another stay in prison. He trusts no one outside his social circle and lashes out when he feels his existence is being threatened. He suspects something is going with his best pal Doug when he spots him with Claire on a lunch date. In a scene of palpable tension, he joins them at their table and talks away while Doug drops not-too-subtle hints that he should leave. If Claire spots the distinctive tattoo on the back of his neck, she’ll know they’re the robbers that left her traumatized.
Hall is terrific as Claire, a basically decent person caught up in a dire situation that could very well cost the woman her freedom or her life. Lively shows surprising versatility playing against type as a slutty, drug-addicted townie clearly unfit to be a mother. The late Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father), in his final role, is scary as the local crime boss who gives Doug and his crew their orders. He’s one guy you don’t want to screw with. He’s capable of anything.
The Town is an incredible movie! It flawlessly blends compelling drama, rich characterization and riveting action into one cohesive whole. Affleck has a real feel for the singular rhythm of the Boston working-class neighborhood with its gritty streets, tight-knit residents, unwritten code of silence and a language all its own. It’s a microcosm inhabited by people who all attended the same school, the College of Hard-Knocks. They’re distrustful of outsiders (aka “Tunies”) and law enforcement. Affleck understands them inside and out. He gives us a close look at all of it while knowing we might not like what we see.
It says a lot about any director, especially one so young, that he can get such outstanding across-the-board performances from a large cast. In fact, Affleck does everything right with The Town. Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan, it’s one of those movies that never get boring even when the characters are just talking. A strong current of tension runs consistently throughout. Sure, it’s long, especially the “Alternate Version” which runs about 30 minutes longer than the theatrical version. There are many added and alternate scenes, but the most notable difference is the ending. I won’t say how, but it changes the whole experience. Even with the extra running time, the pacing is never off. It runs as smoothly as vintage whiskey goes down. I can say without hesitation that The Town is one of the best American films of the past decade.
