The Town (***½)
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, John Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake
Lively, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper
Seen: December 31st 2010
***½
Out of ****
Boston neighbourhood Charlestown is the bank robbery capital of
America. Doug MacRay (Affleck), James Coughlin (Renner), Gloansy and Dez are
lifelong friends who plan one heist after another –movies starts off with one
of these heists, the gang perfectly executes a bank robbery wearing black with
skeleton masks. We are quickly introduced to the two main team members, even
though we don’t know it yet: Doug is the one to gently assist bank manager
Claire Keesey (Hall) in keeping her faculties together, and Coughlin is the
violent loose cannon. Coughlin decides they need to have some collateral, and
kidnaps Claire – dropping her off blindfolded as part of their getaway.
Claire becomes the topic of investigation for both the FBI and the
team of robbers. FBI Agent Adam Frawley (Hamm) is desperate to capture the
crew, but is grabbing at straws to build a case. Coughlin wants to “take care”
of Claire, but Doug takes responsibility for it, as he fears what Coughlin, who
already has two strikes against him, would do. Doug approaches Claire, and
starts spending time with her to find out what she knows, whether she can give
them up. Things get complicated as interest from Frawley and Coughlin in Claire
picks up, and Doug starts taking a defensive stance, in one brilliant scene
threatening death should Claire come to harm. The team also orchestrate another
robbery, this time as nuns, and this time things don’t run quite as smooth as
hoped, their getaway only aided by a moment of extreme disregard, which
actually comes across as quite funny.
Everything builds up to the big score however, for which the menacing
local mob boss Fergie (Postlethwaite) blackmails Doug into joining the crew;
knocking over the Boston Cathedral, Fenway Park, home to the Red Sox, for a
score of $3.5 million. The tension builds and events head towards an inevitable
climax, with a blistering shootout scene a la 1995’s Heat, if smaller in scale
though.
Ben Affleck does a fantastic job in getting the audience to root for
the criminal protagonist while laughing at the lawful antagonist’s failed
attempts at capturing Doug and his team. He declares that as film-maker he is a
force to be reckoned with, and as actor, with the right direction, he can do
almost anything. Jeremy Renner is truly scary as the unhinged and violent
Coughlin, bringing across a sense of adolescent bullying towards just about all
other characters. John Hamm is a brilliant actor, which is further evidenced in
his portrayal of Agent Frawley, while Rebecca Hall also does a great job at
playing a very conflicted and traumatised woman. In fact, the entire cast
delivers a sterling performance, no doubt a product of fantastic direction by
Ben Affleck.
The Town is an intense and visceral film experience which might even
shock you with its authentic violence, but it won’t leave you disappointed, and
it won’t leave you bored – this is one movie that effectively combines romance,
action, tension and sparse sprinklings of humour to deliver a well rounded story
to the big screen. This was my last movie for 2010, and what a way it was to
end the year…
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