The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies
TheBest2011-1000x50

Review: The Town

Ben Affleck is a criminal genius. Bank on it.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  September 15, 2010
3.5 3.5 Stars

 

The Town | Directed by Ben Affleck | Written by Ben Affleck, Peter Craig, and Aaron Stockard based on the novel Prince Of Thieves by Chuck Hogan | with Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper, and Slaine | Warner Bros | 125 minutes

Man about Town: Chuck Hogan. By Eugenia Williamson.

Ben Affleck and Rebecca Hall on TheTown. By Peter Keough.

Ben Affleck's getaway drivers give us a tour. By Chris Faraone.

There’s an episode in Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves that I was sure Ben Affleck was going to include in his adaptation of the novel. Doug MacRay and his crew of Charlestown armed robbers plan to knock over the Braintree 10 Cinema. To disguise themselves, they use a make-up kit one of them stole from a Hollywood production shooting on location in Boston. In the book, this seems the epitome of postmodern, self-reflexive irony.

Affleck, who plays MacRay in his film, passed on that scene, replacing it with a heist in the North End that involves a shoot-out and a car chase. So much for subtext, but I can’t argue with the result: the sequence rivals the classic scenes in Bullitt and The French Connection, and it makes you wonder why no one’s shot something like that in this labyrinthine neighborhood before. Neither is this tour-de-force an exception. Affleck combines visceral excitement, bracing authenticity, and an ambiance of malice and dread to make what might be the best movie set in Boston since The Friends of Eddie Coyle — and that includes his own Gone Baby Gone.

Yet one of the least convincing elements in Affleck’s re-creation of the Boston criminal demi-monde is his own erratic accent. Perhaps that reflects his character’s ambivalence about being a Townie knucklehead. Doug is a gentleman, and he seems a little embarrassed by the crudities of his profession and the feral nature of his background. In the film’s opening robbery of a Harvard Square bank, he’s the voice of reason, reassuring Claire (Rebecca Hall), a pretty manager, when she fumbles with the combination to the safe. His calm doesn’t really compensate for the thugs’ brutality, however, or the bursts from their assault weapons, or the death masks covering their faces. And his courtesy doesn’t cover up the behavior of Jem (Jeremy Renner, whose accent is perfect), his childhood friend, who always goes a little too far — in this case staving in some guy’s head with the butt of his AK-47 and taking Claire hostage.

They let Claire go, but when they learn that she lives right down the street in a gentrified part of Charlestown, Doug volunteers to find out what she might have blurted to FBI agent Frawley (Jon Hamm in a limited role that might disappoint fans of Mad Men). Doug and Claire meet cute in a laundromat, exchange sob stories and phone numbers, begin an awkward romance, and arouse Jem’s suspicion and jealousy. Maybe this is how guys meet girls in certain parts of Charlestown.

1  |  2  |   next >
Related: Man about Town: Chuck Hogan, Photos: Red-carpet premiere of ''The Town'' at Fenway Park, Review: Red Cliff, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Fenway Park, Movies, Charlestown,  More more >
| More
Add Comment
HTML Prohibited

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 01/31 ]   "Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera"  @ Oberon
[ 01/31 ]   "Sheila Hicks: 50 Years"  @ Addison Gallery of American Art
[ 01/31 ]   Joe Fig: "Inside the Painter's Studio"  @ Massachusetts College of Art and Design
ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: BIUTIFUL  |  January 27, 2011
    Alejandro González Iñárritu's arty tearjerker is kind of like 127 Hours — you know how the film is going to end, and you wish it would just get it over with.
  •   MARWENCOL AND JAFAR PANAHI STAR AT BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS AWARDS  |  January 27, 2011
    From Boston to Oscar.
  •   THE LAID-BACK INTRICACIES OF HONG SANGSOO AT THE HFA  |  January 26, 2011
    "Your sincerity needs its own form," a film professor advises a student in prolific Korean director Hong Sangsoo's most recent work, OKI'S MOVIE. "Form will take you to the truth. Telling it like it is won't get you there."
  •   OSCAR NOMINEE PREDICTIONS 2011: SOCIAL ANXIETY  |  January 18, 2011
    Last year's Oscar program had a celebratory feeling about it that's not always associated with the most watched ceremony in the world.
  •   REVIEW: THE COMPANY MEN  |  January 19, 2011
    Call it compassion fatigue, but I can't muster a lot of sympathy for Bobby Walker when he gets laid off and has to sell his Patriots season tickets.

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2011 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group