The Town

2010. Dir: Ben Affleck. Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner and Blake Lively. ●●●●○



I shall start this review with a small confession. Earlier this year I read an American blog that noted the US cinematic release of the Red Riding trilogy had subtitles for the audience who couldn't decipher Yorkshire accents. I laughed at the time but now I have to confess there were moments in Ben Affleck's stunning The Town where subtitles for the Boston accents would have been useful. Not that understanding the intention of the scenes is at all hard, the actors providing enough non-verbal communication to fully compensate for any difficulties in the language.



The cliche ridden plot concerns a highly efficient quartet of Charlestown, Boston based bank robbers led by actor/director Ben Affleck and the FBI squad intent on bringing them down as personified by Jon Hamm. Over the course of three robberies the heat increases on our criminal heroes, not least due to the hot-headed Jeremy Renner, the kidnap of Bank manager Rebecca Hall during the initial robbery and the subsequent attempts by Affleck to pacify the situation by falling for Hall.

The qualities of the film though do not lie in the plot, if anything Affleck fully embraces and glorifies even the most obvious tropes, but in the excution. Each of the robberies highlights a different aspect of the genre from the meticulous planning of the first, the fanatastic car chase of the second and the thunderous Michael Mann inspired shootout in the final act.

Affleck handles the action in these scenes very well, proving he was paying attention during the less distinguished moments of his acting career. He can also handle the more sombre scenes, the prison scene with his father, as played by Chris Cooper, and the tense conversations with kingpin florist Pete Postlethwaite perfectly counterbalance the action. There is also an underlying sense of uncomfortableness in the scenes between Afflek and Hall, highlighting the vague sense of recognition from their first encounter. On a side note I can imagine Afflecks speech about his mother easily becoming an audition favourite in years to come.

The writing, especially for the working class characters, is excellently observed and most of the actors bring their bes work to the screen. I was especially impressed by the bristling energy of Jeremy Renner and Blake Lively's good time girl also stood out.

The film was less comfortable with the police procedural side, the criminals were just far more entertaining and - frankly - too good at their job to give the FBI characters much to work on.

Some of the visual tics Affleck relies on were a little tired and ths didn't have quite the same impact as his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone however this does underlinewhat an interesting talent he has and I will certainly beinterestedin seeing the next project he signs up for.