Review of The Town (2010) by Sean K — 20 Oct 2012

As time goes on, we are seeing more and more crime dramas taking place in my native town of Boston, Massachusetts. Why so? Well with it's gritty background, we are provided with a good setting to place such crime dramas such as The Town and in the end make it believable.

The Town is a crime film centered around Ben Affleck's character who, after finally finding someone to live for (just so happens to be a bank manager), wants to go straight from bank robbing. So, sparks ensue after the movie opens with a tightly filmed bank robbery in which we meet the bank manager who later becomes a love interest to Affleck.

After the manager may have possibly seen one of Affleck's members, Affleck takes it upon himself to handle it. Yet, he ends up falling for the woman and his best friend/co-robber doesnt like the idea too much.

I thought the drama was very tense at moments but found the love interest to be a bit bleh at moments. The side story with Affleck's father though was a great addition I thought and brought more emotional depth to the film.

The movie has some great action sequences that mimick the gritty style of Michael Mann's bank robbery epic Heat and the way Affleck wields the camera and plays out the main role is unimaginable. I honestly didn't see the film as a big deal upon hearing about it and figured it would be a step down from Affleck's previous film Gone, Baby, Gone, but instead I was presented with a tightly filmed, brillaintly adapted, crime-drama that (in ways) surpasses Gone, Baby, Gone.

The acting from the ensemble is quite amazing with Rener doing a great job. The film unfolds with such charisma and jolting performance that it will surely keep you intertwined within the action and drama.

Affleck proves to be a superb director and also re-establioshes himself as an actor. Out of all the films of 2010-2011, The Town was certainly my favorite and I cannot see how the Academy didn't even give it a nomination for Best Picture or Affleck for Best Director.

Stiff competition I suppose. All in all, the film is quite amazing and can draw comparisons the other Boston crime films (The Departed, Best Picture winner of 2006). Maybe it's just me, or my Boston heritage, or Irish heritage that makes me love these films or maybe it's that most of the crime films that have taken place in Beantown have been quite succesful.

If your looking for a tensely filmed, taut crime film with plenty of action and great acting to give, then The Town is exactly what you want! Best Picture of 2010!