The Town Movie

"There are over 300 bank robberies in Boston every year. Most of these professionals live in a one-square-mile neighbourhood called Charlestown."

This embellished quote from The Town trailer sets the scene for a fun, well crafted Boston crime movie. It may not have the gravitas of Ben Affleck’s 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, but its heist and action scenes are drawing comparisons with classic crime movie Heat. Despite the overstating of Boston’s robbery statistics, the reality being closer to 30 than 300, Affleck has created a Boston that even Boston-natives will appreciate.

The Town was released in 2010, directed by Ben Affleck and based on the book Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. It stars Affleck himself, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite and Chris Cooper.

As set out in the trailer, the premise of The Town is that Affleck and Renner are part of a four man team of bank robbers. The Charlestown natives take a hostage, played by Rebecca Hall, during the course of one of their robberies. Following the robbery Affleck’s character befriends the former hostage, keeping his role in the robbery a secret. The rest of the movie features his character’s inner conflict over his career path, particularly the fight between his past, represented by Renner’s character, and what he wants his future to be. As FBI agent Adam Frawley, played by Jon Hamm, pursues the robbers as they plan and execute what Affleck hopes to be his last big job.

The Town is a high quality heist movie, with all the clichéd trimmings. While criticisms could be directed at some of the implausible plot and character developments, it should be reviewed as a bubblegum movie and enjoyed accordingly. One car chase in particular could be judged the best of the year, and one of the robberies would challenge for heist scene of the decade.
The adrenaline-filled action scenes should give you the strength you need to get through the tacked-on ending, particularly the cringe-inducing final scene, straight off of a romance novel cover. There is also a superfluous scene of Ben Affleck working out, which raises the question of whether actors should be allowed to direct themselves.

The plot is very much a heist-movie-by-numbers, complete with ‘one last job’ and ‘attack of conscious’ motifs. However, for top class acting by a star cast make it an enjoyable watch, particularly for genre fans.  Blake Lively, in particular, is almost unrecognisable as the trailer park woman scorned. There are many near authentic Boston accents on display, but not to the point of being overdone.

The Town is no Gone Baby Gone, but it’s another solid directorial effort by Ben Affleck. It should be enjoyed as a slick action heist bubble gum movie.

Ben Affleck

Doug MacRay

Rebecca Hall

Claire Keesey

Jon Hamm

Adam Frawley

Jeremy Renner

James Coughlin

Blake Lively

Krista Coughlin

Slaine

Albert 'Gloansy' Magloan

Owen Burke

Desmond Elden

Titus Welliver

Dino Ciampa

Pete Postlethwaite

Fergus 'Fergie' Colm

Chris Cooper

Stephen MacRay

Dennis McLaughlin

Rusty

Corena Chase

Agent Quinlan

Brian Scannell

Henry

Kerri Dunbar

Henry's Girl

The Town was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on 17 December, 2010.

The Town DVD and The Town (Extended Cut) [Blu-ray] Special Features:

• Theatrical version of The Town plus extended cut not seen in theaters
• Commentary on both versions by Ben Affleck
• English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 on both versions; French Dolby 5.1 and Spanish Dolby 5.1 on theatrical version only
• Ben's Boston: Actor-director Ben Affleck takes you through the moviemaking process in his hometown. Segments include: The Cathedral of Boston; Nuns with Guns: Filming in the North End; Pulling Off the Perfect Heist; The Town: and more

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Directed by Ben Affleck

Produced by Graham King and Basil Iwanyk

Screenplay by Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard

Music by Harry Gregson-Williams and David Buckley

Cinematography by Robert Elswit

Editing by Dylan Tichenor

1. Charlestown

2. Bank Attack

3. Doug Reflects

4. FBI Show & Tell

5. OxyContin

6. Healing And Stealing

7. Nuns With Guns

8. The Necklace

9. The Wreath

10. Cathedral Of Boston

11. Fenway

12. Who Called 911?

13. Making The Switch

14. Sunny Days

15. Leaving

16. The Letter

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