When Gone Baby Gone was released, it became easy to say that Ben Affleck is a better director than actor – his directorial debut had an assured quality to it, and at that time the roles really weren’t coming his way. His follow up, The Town, is another serious look at working-class Boston, but this time he is directing and starring. It turns out he’s good at both.
The story follows Doug Macray (Affleck), a man from the Charlestown district of Boston who has followed his father into the profession of bank robbing. Apparently, this is not an uncommon line of work in Charlestown. After a successful job, Doug and his gang discover that the woman they took hostage (Rebecca Hall) lives in the area. Worried that she may be able to identify them, he decides to find out how much she knows.
Then things start to turn romantic, and his life spirals out of control.
Affleck has produced a very tense thriller from Chuck Hogan’s source novel, full of twists, suspense and drama. There’s a lot of action, with brutal robbery scenes and a good old-fashioned car chase. The love story is particularly well handled thanks to Hall’s performance. Her character feels very real – an understated young woman who’s been through trauma and finds comfort in Doug.
The rest of the performances are also excellent, and a special mention must go to Jeremy Renner (last seen in The Hurt Locker) as Doug’s partner in crime. It’s also lovely to see Jon Hamm as an FBI agent, but fans of Mad Men will find it strange to see him in the modern world (at one particularly disturbing point he mentions Skype).
The lead performance from Affleck is by no means stunning, but shows the natural charm that got him noticed by Hollywood in the first place (before it got him noticed by the paparazzi). His character is much like Will from Good Will Hunting: a guy who should be doing great things but sticks around his neighbourhood out of misplaced loyalty. This film shows that when given interesting parts, he isn’t so bad after all.
There are a few negatives to the film – the final shootout goes on a bit, and the criminal fraternity of Charlestown is not paricularly well defined (making the role of Pete Postlethwaite’s boss in the whole affair as hard to understand as the thick Bostonian accents everyone has).
It is likely that The Town will be compared to The Departed. While it seems run of the mill next to Scorsese’s stab at a Boston-set crime film, it is certainly an enjoyable ride and another quality film from Mr Affleck.
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