“The Town” is a Crime/Drama/Thriller starring Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Chris Cooper and Jeremy Renner. The setting is based in modern day Boston and focuses specifically on those from Charlestown, the town with the most produced bank robbers in the nation.
This film follow a very close group of four friends from Charlestown who over the years have grown to become some of the best robbers in their area never leaving a trace behind as they either burn or bleach all evidence of their presence. Doug, the leader was once a promising hockey star who blew his chances at the pros with his attitude and temper. He finds himself back in Charlestown slinging oxycotton and robbing banks with the closest thing he ever had to a brother, Jem. During their first heist of the movie Jem pulls a risky move by taking a bank employee hostage who they later find out hails from their close knit town. Worried about her identifying them Doug “accidentally” runs into her and turns on the charm. After she reveals that she had spotted one of her hostage takers tattoos Doug becomes worried when Jem just so happens to pop in on them having lunch. Luckily he diverts her attention enough to hide it but as the next few days progress he realizes just how dangerous and crazy Jem actually is and decides to “Put the whole town in his rearview” along with his newfound love. Now the “Florist” has one final job for them to pull before he can leave and it’s a job the likes of which have never been seen with a payout that can last a lifetime. All Doug has to do is keep his secret and pull the job and he’ll be in the clear.
This was Ben Affleck’s first attempt at directing since his acclaimed “Gone Baby Gone”. It may just take him a couple more tries to get it down to perfection but overall I believe he did well. There were a couple of loose ends left in the film such as the tattoo on Jem’s neck that never surfaced again in the story after the lunch scene. As for the acting I was glad to see Jeremy Renner in another good supporting actor role his accent was spot on and he makes a very believable Irish thug. Affleck however could have spent a little more time with an accent coach. His words seemed forced, lacking the natural flow of someone from Boston who generally would have a great gift a gab and a thick accent. I would give this film a three star rating simply because it wasn’t nearly as thrilling or dramatic as I had hoped and the love interest never led anywhere which seems to be a crucial point in a film with a romance angle.
Your review is pretty smooth and easy to read. You are missing a lot of commas, so you might want to look into how commas work.
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of the movie is ok, but your concluding sentence doesn't really match with your analyses. For example, you say, "it wasn’t nearly as thrilling or dramatic as I had hoped," but you leave the reader asking, "why wasn't it as thrilling or dramatic as he had hoped?" You could mention more "loose ends left in the film" to support your argument.