Review of The Town (1944) by Jeroen V — 26 Nov 2013

Taut, tense, and thrilling, The Town is a well-acted thriller that succeeds on multiple levels: as a suspenseful heist film and as an analysis of a poorly understood and too often condemned area of Boston: Charlestown. Charlestown, of course, is "The Town" that the title references and is drawn here as a close-knit community composed of criminals that treat each other not unlike the Corleone family of Godfather fame. The concept that one never "turns his back on the family" is thoroughly explored here to great success and is the highlight of the film. The cast and writers explore this dynamic well, which works best between the belligerent Coughlin (Jeremy Renner, in his best performance to date) and the seemingly self-righteous Dougie (Ben Affleck).

Unfortunately, the film gets bogged down by a fairly unnecessary romance between Dougie and the manager of one of the banks he robs (Rebecca Hall). The romance seems to draw out some sort of revelation from Dougie about the immorality of his career of thievery, but this connection is left too vague to feel tangible or effective. However, a solid supporting cast consisting of none less than John Hamm as a ruthless FBI agent and a surprisingly talented Blake Lively as a junkie prostitute more than make up for the film's emotional inconsistencies. Some perfectly orchestrated heist scenes help too, of course.