The Town

Charlestown is full of bank robbers that have practiced and perfected the art through many generations of families passing down the techniques to their kin, or so claims 2010 film, The Town. The Town stars and is directed by Ben Affleck.  Other stars include Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, Jeremy Renner, Pete Postlethwaite, and Chris Cooper.  The type of film is an anti-hero crime film, just as the novel, The Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan, that the film is based on is.  The film takes place in modern day Charlestown during the fall.

            The film revolves around Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) and the four friend gang of bank robbers he works with.  The film begins with Doug and the gang robbing a bank.  Everything goes relatively well until the gang is forced to take their very first hostage, Claire.  The gang has never had a hostage before, so they immediately release her at the first chance they get.  Realizing that Claire lives four blocks away from where the gang lives, they decide that they must do something to make sure she keeps quiet.  Doug decides that he will take care of the situation with Claire, and thus starts his strange relationship with her.  In the meanwhile, the FBI suspects that Doug and his friends are behind the bank robberies.  As Doug realizes that he detests Charlestown and his role in it, he must choose if he will remain with his friends or if he will choose Claire.

            The acting was actually good.  I have to admit, when I think of Ben Affleck as an actor, I tend to be apprehensive because I have had this odd judgment that he is an overrated actor even though I have not seen many of the films that he stars in.  And, since he was also the director of the film, that immediately made me even more cautious about seeing this film.  However, I am delighted to say that my fears were for nothing and that Affleck does quite well in his role as Doug.  He has a Boston accent that never wavers, though it sometimes gets stronger when he talks to his brother-like friend, Jem.  He portrays Doug’s inner struggle flawlessly and never breaks from character.  For example, there is a scene where Doug tries to convince Claire that they need to start a life away from Charlestown.  The audience immediately feels Doug’s struggle and wants him to win in the end.  Affleck’s acting helps us side with Doug because he portrays Doug’s character so believably.  Another actor that plays a very believable role is Jeremy Renner as Jem.  Jem is a trigger-happy hothead that never looks back at his actions.  We can easily gather this information from Renner because he takes his character all the way and does not hold back.  For example, there is a scene where he and Doug barge into a man’s apartment.  Jem assaults the man and shoots him in the legs.  Renner makes the audience believe that Jem truly exists with a very real motive to shoot when he deems necessary. 

            The costumes that the four friends use to hide their identities for each bank robbery were fantastic.  The grim reaper costumes with skeleton masks were enjoyable simply for the random dread locks that adorned the masks.  When you think grim reaper, you do not tend to associate dread locks with them, so this little twist in the costume made them that more interesting.  Probably the most memorable costumes they wear are the nun costumes.  It is quite enjoyable to see nuns with machine guns, and the film knows that the audience likes it, too, because they do not skimp out on the scene featuring the characters wearing these costumes.  The scene is plentifully long and does not overplay itself.

            The film also had faltering moments that kept it from being a really good film.  Mainly, the story had elements that were not fully explored or developed, which ends up making the audience linger on those elements rather than having their complete attention on the movie.  For example, Claire notices a distinguishing feature of one of the bank robbers, and this distinction is only referred to once later on, but then is lost and forgotten about.  Another example is that the movie opens with quotes about how Charlestown is full of bank robbers.  The audience at once expects the film to be about many bank robbers but is left sort of wondering where they all are because the film only focuses on one group of bank robbers.

            The Town is a good movie, but not great.  It has believable acting, and enjoyable costumes.  However, its lack of exploiting possibilities of story elements leaves the audience dissatisfied and incomplete, like the story.  The Town is worth a watch, though, even if for just one watch through.