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FeedMovie Review: The Town
Films opening this week:
Alpha and Omega - Maple Ridge; McKinley Mall Dipson; Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Hollywood Regals
Animal Kingdom - Amherst Dipson - REVIEW
Devil - Maple Ridge; Market Arcade; Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Hollywood, Quaker Regals; Flix
Easy A - Maple Ridge; McKinley Mall Dipson; Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Hollywood Regals; Flix; Transit Drive-In
I'm Still Here - Amherst Dipson - REVIEW
Lebanon - Eastern Hills Dipson
Life During Wartime - Amherst Dipson
The Town - Maple Ridge; Market Arcade; Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Hollywood, Quaker Regals; Flix; Transit Drive-In
There is just something about Ben Affleck and Boston. Good Will Hunting earned the Cambridge native an Oscar for Best Screenplay, his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone was—in my opinion—one of the best films of 2007, and now his sophomore effort The Town shows it wasn’t a fluke.
Teaming once more with screenwriter Aaron Stockard and enlisting the services of Peter Craig, Affleck has adapted Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves's intricate story of a team of armored car thieves with style and smarts. Doug MacRay (Affleck, in quite possibly his best acting role to date) is a washed up pro hockey player who got into oxycontin and fisticuffs off the ice, sending him back home to no one but his old friend and criminal partner James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner). With nowhere else to turn, MacRay uses his smarts to orchestrate elaborate heists devoid of snags, covering all avenues from masks, gloves, microwaving security harddrives, and bleaching everything—yes, even the bullets loaded into their semi-automatic weapons. But despite the hard life, he never lost the sense of compassion that made him go outside as a boy with "Missing" posters of his mom.
The audience is introduced to the players as they perform the film’s first heist. While Slaine’s Albert ‘Gloansy’ Magloan and Owen Burke’s Desmond Elden are the help, grabbing the money and readying the getaway van, it’s the attitudes of Affleck and Renner that grip the viewer. The latter is unafraid to show his violent impatience, while Affleck’s MacRay simply knows people. Obviously unhappy about his virtual brother’s temper, the lack of self-esteem continues to push him into the next job. But, as his handling of their impromptu hostage at the bank, Rebecca Hall’s Claire Keesey, can attest, he is a man looking to change. A budding relationship is soon sparked.
The FBI, led by Jon Hamm’s Special Agent Frawley, and local police enforcement headed up with Titus Welliver’s Dino Ciampa have found a error in MacRay’s meticulous planning and come knocking on the door just as Doug is about to put the life behind him. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite as easy as packing up to go. His past comes flooding back in a hurry as connections between he and Coughlin’s jail time are revealed, as well as the relationship between his criminal father (Chris Cooper), missing mother, and kingpin boss Fergie ‘The Florist’ (Pete Postlethwaite).
Affleck has the aesthetic of Charlestown down pat. We are dropped into this world, learning elaborate backstories by body language, attitude, and carefully sprinkled tidbits of their histories together. As a result, the actors have to be at the top of their game to subtly translate their performances into three-dimensional human beings, something everyone—even Blake Lively—does. Hall, Affleck, and Renner each find at least one moment to express their conflicting natures, rendering them much stronger than any stereotypical victim, antihero, or villain would be.
The filmmaker smartly creates a mixture of suspense, anxiety, and laughter. Just as the tension ratchets up to its highest point, a little levity breaks through to get us ready for the next dark descent. This deft control and balance makes The Town an expertly crafted crime thriller.
The Town 9/10
photography:
[1] (L-R) REBECCA HALL as Claire Keesey and BEN AFFLECK as Doug MacRay in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' crime drama "The Town," distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo by Claire Folger
[2] (L-R) SLAINE as Albert "Gloansy" Magloan, BEN AFFLECK as Doug MacRay, JEREMY RENNER as Jem Coughlin and OWEN BURKE as Desmond Elden in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' crime drama "The Town," distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
