ThisFilmIsOn

In the thirteen odd years since winning an Oscar for his work on Good Will Hunting hating Ben Affleck seems to have become a global past time. No one could deny there have been some notable indiscretions in that time; including but not limited to Gigli, Pearl Harbour, Paycheck and Jennifer Lopez. However, over the past couple of years Affleck’s career has taken a deserved upturn peaking with his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone.

Now, three years on, Affleck has returned to the director’s chair for The Town and he’s assembled an impressive cast which reflects his renewed gravitas.

Like Gone Baby Gone, The Town is a Boston set crime drama and this time, following on from solid supporting roles in films like Extract and State of Play, Affleck has chosen to cast himself in the lead role of bank robber Doug MacRay.

After another successful bank job MacRay finds himself besotted with Rebecca Hall’s Claire Keesey who just happens to be the manager of the bank they just turned over. Torn between his criminal past and the prospect of a new life with the unwitting Claire, MacRay is coerced into one last job despite the fact that the F.B.I is hot on his heels. As you can probably infer from the previous paragraph The Town is not without its clichés, playing out like the illegitimate sibling of Michael Mann’s Heat.

As well as Affleck and Hall the cast contains red hot up and comers like Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively and John Hamm, all of whom are decent in their specific roles. However, the substantial number of similarities between The Town and Heat do highlight just how much resonance the likes of De Niro and Pacino carry. Take for example John Hamm’s F.B.I agent Frawley. Whilst the performance isn’t particularly bad he fails to highlight the all immersive desperation the Pacino portrayed so well in Heat. Resultantly the character of Special Agent Frawley is neither sympathetic or admirable, coming off at times, as comedicly incompetent.

That’s not to say this is a bad film, on the contrary it is engaging and enjoyable. Affleck does a sterling job in the lead in what is his best acting role for a number of years. Jeremy Renner is solid as Affleck’s, less stable, partner in crime and proves once again that he is probably the best at ‘acting thirsty’ in Hollywood.

Chances are, The Town won’t draw such all encompassing praise as Gone Baby Gone but if nothing else, Affleck has proved that the latter was not a fluke and he is one of the more gifted young directors working their way [back] up the ladder. If you’re a fan of heist movies this will be right up your street, if not, there are definitely worse ways to spend two hours.

Watch the trailer here but be warned, it’s annoyingly spoilerific.

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