MyRating: YYYYYDirector: Ben Affleck
Cast: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper, Slaine, Owen Burke
MPAA: Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use
Four friends and robbers, living in the tough neighborhood of Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Albert 'Gloansy' Magloan (Slaine) and Desmond Elden (Owen Burke), rob a bank and take the bank manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), as hostage for their escapes. After releasing Claire, they find out that the woman also lives in Charlestown, where there is a big chance they will run into her again on streets in the future. To find out what she knows and what she has told the police and the FBI, Doug starts a personal relationship with Claire as a stranger. And he soon learns that Claire has actually seen something in the robbery that may reveal their identities and incriminate them. But unplanned, Doug slowly falls in love with her.
Knowing that the situation they are in may endanger Claire's life, as well as theirs, Doug realizes that the only way out is to leave town and take Claire with him, which also means quitting his profession as a bank robber. However, quitting is not easy for people like them, as he and his gang are being assigned for the next big assignment by a local gangster named Fergie (Pete Postlethwaite), who will never take 'no' for an answer. On the other hand, the investigation from the FBI, led by Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm), has come into an evidence that links Doug and his gang to the bank robbery. And the man will do anything to bring them down.
Ben Affleck has slowly and seriously turned into one skillful and respectable new young director. After his first long feature film Gone Baby Gone (2007) that got high critically acclaims from both the critics and the audiences, this year he did it again with his second film, The Town, a slick and highly entertaining crime drama, which proved that his success in Gone Baby Gone was not a 'one hit wonder'. Affleck is one of the actors that seems to be successfully metamorphosed himself to take another important role in the movie industry on the seat of a director. Some honorable mentions for the actors who did the same are the living legends Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford. Of course to compare Affleck with these great and senior actors-directors is a bit too early, but everybody knows now that this 'handsome' actor has the intelligence and the crafts that are needed to become a good director. I believe this natural skill is something given rather than something that could be learnt easily, because those skills and talents were born in their blood. And I believe Affleck has them.
In his hand, this film has turned out to be one great movie. A brilliant direction from Affleck, combined with a very good script (also co-written by Affleck) made this movie so enjoyable to watch. The story and the plots flowed smoothly from the beginning till the end. The dialogs were also well written. So, not only he is a good director, but he is also a good screenwriter. The movie was so well paced, with enough actions to pull the tension. The robbery scenes were well made and the chase in the street near the end of the movie was memorable.
The movie also has good characterization. Affleck did take his time to develop his main characters, that at the end made us care for their fates and struggles. Good and powerful performances by almost all the actors, including Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm and Rebecca Hall. Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite also added the value to the cast. While Blake Lively appeared not very convincing as the drug addict Krista Coughlin.
After years of struggling to maintain his position as a top rated A-list actor, following his glorious years in the movies like Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001) and Daredevil (2003), and often looked down by people as an actor, Ben Affleck now gets his second wind, to step into the second stage of his career, as a promising director. If he focuses more on his role as a director, he may become one great director one day. And by seeing the quality of works that he has given in his first two movies, he could be. But at the same time, I also want to see Affleck continues to act, as he has shown so much acting improvement through his (rough) years. And I believe that there is always a room for a good actor-director.
Ben Affleck definitely knows how to make a good quality movie, that once again stunned us that he is capable of doing so. And this is another beautiful and superb piece from him. A well crafted movie. One of the best and my favorites this year. (MJ)
