The Town: Movie Review

Ben Affleck shot to fame a few years back when he and his good friend, Matt Damon rocked the world with “Good Will Hunting”. With an Oscar to boot, he belonged to an exclusive list of actors but some things really come to an end. His whirlwind romance with J. Lo and all the bad publicity pushed his career to a steep nosedive. Ben Affleck just disappeared in an instant. We all know though that it’s just a matter of time before he will reestablish his name in Hollywood again and now he has a chance with “The Town”. He goes all out in this one by directing, writing and even acting as the lead. Is Ben Affleck back in A-list form? See what we think about “The Town” after the jump.

The place is Charlestown, a city in Boston notorious for producing the most number of thieves and bank robbers in the world. Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is the leader of a gang of bank robbers who have been leaving crime scenes without the slightest evidence for quite some time now. Things start to get tense when he stalks Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), one of their hostages in a recent bank heist. He wants to make sure she doesn’t say a word to the FBI but then he finds himself falling for her for real. Can he find a way to get a new life and a way out of Charlestown with Claire before the FBI catches up with Doug’s group of talented bandits?

“The Town” is a gritty and mature film about the lives of bank robbers. It shows two sides of the coin. The common perception of bank robbers as the bad guys but most importantly, it gives these burglars soul – a soul that show that some of them are still human indeed. We found ourselves immersed in the world of these robbers – we even root for the bad guys to win. No thanks to the story which is believable and the action more so. The acting was spectacular as well. The dialogue was hard to understand but it was more of the Boston accent than bad writing - we even found ourselves laughing from time to time with the witty one-liners. What we really liked about “The Town” is it all felt down-to-earth and it never succumb itself to a cheesy love story or to next generation effects. The car chase was just realistic, and not to mention, exciting. We would like to think that “The Town” is a reflection of how much Ben Affleck has grown as a person through all the hardships he had probably faced during his decline. “The Town” is an emblem and a stamp mark for Ben Affleck to show the world that he is finally back and definitely better than ever.

Rating: 4 reels





Why you should watch it:
- gritty, mature and a believable story on the lives of bank robbers
- no special effects mean everything feels more real
- the acting was amazing from the whole cast

Why you shouldn’t watch it:
- becomes somewhat boring in the middle portions
- the dialogue was hard to understand due to the heavy accent and slang