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The Town (2010)
 
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Directed
by:
Ben Affleck |
COUNTRY
USA |
GENRE
Crime/Drama/Action |
NORWEGIAN TITLE
The
Town |
RUNNING
TIME
125
minutes |
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Produced
by:
Graham King
Basil Iwanyk |
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Written
by (based on the novel "Prince of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan):
Ben Affleck
Peter Craig
Aaron Stockard |
Review
With
Gone Baby Gone and now
The Town,
Ben Affleck is somewhat surprisingly about to establish himself as a
prominent filmmaker after what has been an uneven, to put it mildly, career in the
business so far. Having adapted two Dennis Lehane novels (Mystic
River and
Gone Baby Gone, respectively),
Affleck demonstrates in The Town that he may well be the heir to
the tradition of filmmaking for which Clint Eastwood has been the
strongest proponent during the past 25 years. What the two have in
common, in addition to their quietly forceful acting styles, are the
ability to combine gripping and authentic depictions of crime with
soul-searching characters and interpersonal relations.
On the surface, The Town is a
classically constructed heist movie, opening almost as en episode of
TV's CSI: a violent crime is committed, detectives exchange
banter as they set up the investigation, and then we get a
behind-the-scenes peek at the criminals and their lives. The difference,
however, lies in the quality of the production. Ben Affleck's direction
here is nothing short of brilliant. He strikes a perfect balance between
serious drama and high-octane action, and his action scenes are crisp,
gritty and entertaining. They feel incredibly real without becoming
exploitive or crude, and if the characters are often simple and have
stereotypical traits, their backgrounds and situations are accounted for in
such a way that their existence is substantiated. They have the right to
be where and what they are. And at the same time, our protagonist Doug
MacRay must fight for his right to break free from this very existence.
It's a stark but relevant environmental portrait of an unforgiving
neighbourhood and subculture which, claims the film, breeds criminals.
These guys don't know of any other way of living, and they stand up for
their code of honour – to such an extent even that when Doug finally
challenges it, he meets more resistance than he had bargained for.
If the plot lacks surprises, this is
made up for by the intensity of the story, and with Affleck's
tight, no-nonsense direction, the film adopts a timeless quality akin to
the best heist movies of the 1960s and 1970s or Michael Mann's
celebrated Heat. After two feature films both set in Affleck's
own Boston, he has shown that he is much more confident and has a
clearer voice working with this material and environment than he ever
had as a blockbuster lead. Here, his moral discussions have resonance,
and although The Town isn't as ambiguous and morally challenging
as Gone Baby Gone, it is a more focused and better told story.
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