The Town (2010)

Directed by: Ben Affleck | 125 minutes | drama, thriller, crime | Actors: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Jon Hamm, Pete Postlethwaite, Rebecca Hall, Chris Cooper, Slaine, Brian Scannell, Ed O’Keefe, Mark Berglund, Jeff Martineau, Nicholas Cairis, Gary Galone, Jeremiah Kissel, Rich Skinner , Michael Yebba, Eric Ryan

Since his well-received directorial debut ‘Gone Baby Gone’ (2007), almost everyone has agreed: Ben Affleck is a better director than an actor. The crime film, based on a Dennis Lehane novel, showed that he had a sense of timing and an excellent sense of how to get his actors to do what he wanted. Wisely, Ben stayed in the background with that film, letting his younger brother Casey take the lead. But apparently the blood is still running where it can’t go and for his second film, ‘The Town’ (2010), he gave himself the lead role. Again he chose a crime thriller based on a novel (this time Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves), a story that immediately appealed to him. Not least because it takes place in Boston, the city where he was born and which he still has a soft spot for. ‘The Town’ promises to be a worthy successor to ‘Gone Baby Gone’, judging by the impressive number of visitors that the film attracted to cinemas in the US and the excellent reviews Affleck received. ‘The Town’ is certainly an entertaining thriller, but the promised depth is unfortunately not forthcoming.

The story is set in Charlestown, a Boston neighborhood where we are told more bank robbers and other criminals live together than anywhere else in the United States. The ‘trade’ is passed from father to son. Doug McRay (Affleck) is therefore not a stranger; his father (Chris Cooper) is serving a life sentence for murder. Doug leads a band of masked bank robbers that regularly strikes the upscale areas of the city. During one of the robberies, his rather aggressive buddy Jem (Jeremy Renner) decides to briefly hold a bank employee hostage, much to Doug’s dismay. When they find out that this Claire (Rebecca Hall) lives in their neighborhood, he chases her. He ‘accidentally’ bumps into her in a laundromat. They seem to like each other quite a bit. But Doug knows that Claire, without realizing it, is the only one who can identify them as the bank robbers. At the same time, he plays with the idea of ​​saying goodbye to the criminal world forever and starting a new life with Claire, far away from Charlestown. Jem, who sees Doug as a brother, will do anything to make him change his mind.

With ‘The Town’ Ben Affleck once again proves his prowess as a director. He also has ambitions. He made this film with the intention of making it an intelligent, high-quality crime story, with deeper layers of meaning. ‘The Town’ is certainly a high-quality production, but the deeper layers are missing. Sometimes fragments of it surface, such as when Doug visits his father in prison. Chris Cooper puts down a nice piece of craftsmanship in his minimal role. But just when you think we’re finally going deep, Affleck switches back to fast-paced shooting and flashy action. Doug plays with the idea of ​​saying goodbye to his existing life and starting all over again, but unfortunately we don’t get to see much of his struggle. The focus remains on criminal activities. The introduction of the drug boss Pete Postlethwaite and FBI agent Jon Hamm – who plays well, by the way – also elaborates on this. It’s as if Affleck gives in to the will of the masses, who apparently want to see bullets flying around and crazy chases. The underlying story never comes to life. It all remains fairly flat, just like Affleck’s acting by the way, who is played out here and there by his colleagues.

The acting is very strong across the board. Jeremy Renner in particular knows how to captivate immensely in the role of Jem, the brooding barrel of gunpowder who sees in Doug the brother he never had. The scene where he unexpectedly drops by when Doug and Claire are having a chat on a patio is one of the best in the movie. Jem pretends he doesn’t know anything and he plays that game horribly well. At the same time, Doug knows that Claire can’t see the striking tattoo on Jem’s neck, because then she’ll see them. The tension in that small scene is no match for a banging confrontation between bank robbers and the police. Rebecca Hall and Blake Lively (as Jem’s somewhat vulgar but vulnerable sister, who once had a relationship with Doug) also captivate the viewer. You don’t see enough of the previously mentioned Cooper and Postlethwaite; Jon Hamm’s FBI agent, on the other hand, is hardly interesting (although that is not due to the actor). Affleck’s character is potentially interesting, but because the actor plays him so flat, you long for a scene in which he is not in for once.

‘The Town’ is a well-made thriller, which offers enough leads for an amusing movie night. Spectacular enough! However, don’t expect deeper layers, even if they are promised. A deeper look into the mental world of a criminal, such as ‘The American’ (2010) by Anton Corbijn gave us, for example, is left behind here. What remains is an easy-to-digest, well-acted crime film that will undoubtedly appeal to a large audience and that is often reminiscent of classics from the genre (‘Heat’ (1995) for example). And although ‘The Town’ is less surprising than ‘Gone Baby Gone’, we would like to say to Ben Affleck: keep directing, because you have enough talent. But next time cast someone else in the lead role!