A week from now I’ll have seen Batman v. Superman so now is a good time to finally catch up on the Ben Affleck films I’ve heard good things about, but haven’t taken the time to watch yet. When Affleck was cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne I was initially very worried. I mean, I saw “Daredevil,” and it was hard to envision him as Batman. The Town, which was also directed by Affleck, is the first film and the Affleck redemption plan for this week and it worked wonders landing squarely in the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.
Doug MacRay (Affleck) is a second generation bank robber working with his crew consisting of James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Desmonde Elden (Owen Burke), and Albert “Gloansy’ Magloan (Slaine). MacRay finds himself questioning his line of work after falling for Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), a bank manager from a former heist.
Affleck does a great job both acting in and directing The Town. The film starts strong with the opening sequence being a heist, not something always seen in crime films. It’s not entirely original, but it definitely sucks you into the film from the get go. MacRay is shown to be a sympathetic, good-guy criminal who fell into this line of work after his hopes and dreams were crushed and he found himself in an undesirable situation. Affleck’s performance manages to make root for him despite him being the societal bad guy.
Coughlin is the real criminal element that is a source of conflict from the film. That’s not a spoiler as it is established very early on that he is the loose canon. The rest of the crew are fairly cookie cutter and could have been replaced with just about any character.
The love story with MacRay and Keesey utilizes dramatic irony very well to make us wonder how this relationship could possibly end well. When John Hamm as FBI special agent Adam Frawley and Titus Welliver as FBI agent Dino Ciampa get involved with heists the conflict of when will Keesey find out the truth becomes a ticking clock. The drama builds greatly here and again MacRay gains our sympathy.
All of the heist sequences in this film are fantastic. They take three different approaches to the heists making each a unique series of events. The first is a rather smooth bank robbery with a clean getaway. The second is a middle of the day in a busy street heist that goes slightly awry followed by an intense chase sequence. I’ll leave the final heist for the film to reveal, but it’s different than the first two. All are exciting and intense.
I bought The Town on Vudu with Argo, which I’ll be watching this weekend, for a good price in one of the bundle deals. I definitely recommend you check out Town if you have any doubts of Affleck’s acting chops.
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