“The Town”
Written by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard; based on the novel “Prince of Thieves” by Chuck Hogan; Directed by Ben Affleck; Stars: Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, Jeremy Renner, Pete Postlethwaite and Chris Cooper. Story: A young armored car and bank-robbing ring leader from Charlestown, Mass tries to straighten out his life despite his criminal friends’ tendencies, a crime boss that won’t let him out, and an FBI agent that could send him to jail like his father.
Seen by Adam and Lars, September 18, 2010
LARS:
If somebody had said to me five years ago that Ben Affleck would write, direct and star in one of the best films of 2010, I would have been seriously concerned about their mental health. However, after watching ’The Town”, I have to eat a large slice of humble pie and admit that Affleck is turning into a force to be reckoned with. It’s too early to say whether he’ll turn into a true auteur, but he’s on his way to be mentioned in the same breath as Warren Beatty, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood as leading men, who create their own vehicles. And not just vanity projects, either. Both of Affleck’s directorial efforts, “Gone, Baby, Gone” and “The Town” are gritty dramas that avoid clichés, even if they are not exactly exploring brand new territories.
The town of the title is Charlestown, a part of Boston, where both Affleck’s films have been shot. He’s a Bostonian himself and knows and understands the blue-collar world of the city, far from Harvard and MIT. Affleck plays Doug MacRay, a no-good deadbeat from a family of no-good deadbeats. His dad is in jail for life, his mom’s fate is unresolved. He’s in the family business, which is robbing armored money transports and banks. But in an unusual turn that’s never fully explored or explained, Doug has quit drinking and drugs and is looking to get out of the vicious cycle, before he ends up in the cell next to his dad. But it’s not easy to quit, when the evil Fergie (a great turn by Pete Postlethwaite), who runs the local gangsters, isn’t done with you.
It’d be a shame to go into more details about the plot, as part of the pleasure of this film is that it’s extremely well written. But then Affleck is an Oscar-winning screenwriter (a sentence I still find it hard to write), and maybe having a director who not only understands and appreciates the written word, but has to act them too helps.
The cast is pitch-perfect. Even smaller characters, like the slutty single mother whose kid may or may not be Doug’s, stand out. She is played by Blake Lively, whom I’d never before seen outside of “Gossip Girl” and had pretty much written off as just a pretty face. Here she does a great job in a small part. Affleck nails his character and his dilemmas. He’s not a particularly sympathetic guy, Doug, but Affleck gives him a tinge of sadness and regret that allows the audience to stay on his side, even as he does unspeakable things. Other standouts are Jeremy Renner (last seen doing a magnificent turn in “The Hurt Locker”), who plays the live wire James Coughlin, a man with nothing to lose and hell-bent on losing it as quickly as he can.
The film is bloody with great action sequences, but also in parts funny as hell, with great zingers generously served up on a regular basis. We haven’t had a good crime drama like this for a long, long time. The two recent films that “The Town” resemble the most in both mood and deftness of execution are Michael Mann’s “Heat” and Clint Eastwood’s “Mystic River”. High praise indeed, but “The Town” earns every little bit of it.
Consider me a Ben Affleck fan from now on. That doesn’t mean that I’ve forgiven him for “Jersey Girl” or “Gigli” just yet, but if he keeps cranking out films like this we’ll get there. Eventually.
ADAM:
Turn back the clock about sixty days. Lars and I were surely about to sit through two hours of painful cinematic trash called (fill in the blank from one of several we’re reviewed here), and we caught a first glimpse of “The Town” via the trailer. I remember my feeling; this is a crime drama, a heist movie — one of my favorite genres. Also, one of the easiest to screw up. It looked good. Good cast. Affleck at the helm – worth a shot – “Gone Baby, Gone” was an impressive effort. Since that first glimpse, I’d been anticipating what I hoped would be a pearl in a sea of horrible misfires — a year of film forgettable in every way other than its endless list of critical and financial failures. So, to put it mildly, I was setting “The Town” up for a big failure. Luckily, like Ted Williams’ last at bat at Fenway, Affleck knocked it out of the park.
“The Town” isn’t wholly original, in fact, there are several parallels to Michael Mann’s “Heat” and countless other heist pictures from memory. We meet the flawed hero who decides it’s time to get out, except the transition from career criminal to the straight and narrow isn’t an easy career adjustment and hell ensues from every direction.
Here it’s Doug MacRay (Affleck), an armored car and bank robber carrying on the family tradition, but itching to get out as the next baby step after kicking drugs and alcohol and realizing the effect his gang’s crimes have on the victims. His obstacles to getting out range from Fergie (Pete Postlethwaite), the evil local boss who assigns the jobs, gets a taste of the action and keeps the gang on a short leash through tradition and intimidation, Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Doug’s partner and a short-tempered, impulsive career criminal who’d rather die in the streets then go back to jail, Coughlin’s sister and Doug’s former flame Krista (Blake Lively), who’s still trying to keep her options open, and I’d say fate itself – Doug is constantly reminded of from where he comes, though his actions, those he interacts with and most certainly his incarcerated father. Doug has to fight to try and change what seems like a predetermined series of events that will result in him lying either in a cell like his dad, or a morge. Oh, and lest I forget, there’s FBI Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) tracking Doug’s moves and trying to collar him for everything he’s done in the past.
Movies like this don’t win me over by being new or novel; they earn my respect my being comfortable. And Not. I’ll explain. The best movies in this genre bait you in with a fantastic essay on the setting and surroundings of our main character, even if he’s a criminal or unlikable. The way Affleck sets up Doug and his world is as comfy as your favorite shirt. That’s vital. Because once your settled and relaxed in this place, the reality of the harsh crimes, the mistrust, and the volatility Doug has to deal with makes you uneasy in all the right ways. How a tough character like Doug can pull off his crimes and still become fragile is a testament to the quality of the material and how well Affleck directs and performs it. He’s a smart director in another way: he surrounds himself with great talent. I imagine that made his job a little easier. Renner nails it as Coughlin, another shoe in for an Oscar nomination I’d imagine; Postlethwaite is perfect as Fergie, Hamm never stumbles as Frawley, and Blake Livey (confession: I’d watch her play chess, I’m so enamored), confirms I’m not a liar, handling her role like a pro, and thus grabbing a foothold on what should be a massive expansion in her career.
And Affleck’s chose properly for support behind the camera as well. He’s taken on exponentially more here than “Gone Baby, Gone,” with shootouts and chases that might in fact rival those filmed in downtown L.A. for Mann’s “Heat.” Cinematographer Robert Elswit, whose pedigree is as impressive and varied as anyone’s in Hollywood (There Will Be Blood-Michael Clayton-Heist-Salt-Boogie Nights) never shoots any of the action “too close,” or from too high an angle, so what we’re left with is heart-pounding sequences that feel real and intimate.
I’m hopeful that (like in most years), the last few months of the movie year make up for the first three quarters in terms of quality. Regardless, I think other than Toy Story 3, we have our first true contender for film of the year in “The Town.” I’m not sure it’s a best picture winner, but the efforts by the entire team should garner several deserved nominations.
