The Town
I think Ben Affleck has finally found his groove as a filmmaker. As a star he’s been hit-and-miss (see “Reindeer Games,” “Armageddon,” “Paycheck”). But as an actor (especially with Kevin Smith, and in “Hollywoodland”) and now a two-time director (after 2007’s underrated “Gone Baby Gone”), Affleck is clicking on all cylinders with a crime drama that sounds like “The Departed” (also set in Boston) but feels like “Heat.” To compare it to those two is not faint praise.
Affleck and co-writers Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard have taken their cue from Chuck Hogan’s book “Prince of Thieves,” which chronicles the bank robber culture that resides in Charlestown, Mass. Like in Michael Mann’s heist classic, the setting sets the tone for the entire film with “The Town.” This is exemplified best in a shot when, after an armored truck holdup, our crew is spotted- armed to the teeth and unmasked- by a cop in his car. He looks the other way.
Affleck and Jeremy Renner are sensational as lifelong best friends Doug MacRay and John Coughlin, who head up a friendly team of robbers who have eluded the cops thus far (though all of them, whether it’s on other charges or in family connection, have been in a jail at one time or another). Starting with a superbly-staged bank robbery at the beginning, we see tensions start to mount within the team, especially when Coughlin takes the manager (Rebecca Hall) hostage. They don’t do that, so it’s risky when MacRay follows up on her, and strikes up a relationship, which could lead the feds- led by a dogged agent named Frawley (“Mad Men’s” John Hamm; ok, I see the appeal)- right to them.
Ok, admittedly the story doesn’t dig as deep as Scorsese or Mann did in their classic crime thrillers, but Affleck still grounds the action in character, with MacRay’s desire to leave the life behind (one scene between Affleck and Chris Cooper- as his jailed father- has a powerful hold) and start anew with Claire (Hall is an emotionally fragile and powerful presence), and the tensions that arise between MacRay and Coughlin, driving the narrative. And when you get to the closing heist at Fenway Park (brilliantly staged by Affleck and his collaborators), well, let’s just say that between this and “Inception,” heist movies haven’t had it this good in years.
