The Town Review

The Town, written by Peter Craig and Ben Affleck, directed by Ben Aflleck, and starring Ben Affleck, is exactly what one would expect from Ben Affleck. It is full of gunfights, car chases, fist fights, and of course romantic tension.

Affleck's character, Doug MacRay, has lived his whole life in the slums of Charlestown, MA, the supposed “bank robbery capital of America.” When robbing a bank with his best friends Jim Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Albert “Gloansy” Magloan (Slaine), and Desmond Elden (Owen Burke), the silent alarm is pressed, and they are forced to take the bank manager Claire Kessey (Rebecca Hall) as a hostage to escape. Though they all wear masks during the robbery and destroy anything that could be used as evidence, the robbers decide to send Doug to check on Claire and make sure she did not see anything that could be used against them. After talking with her, Doug quickly falls in love with Claire, who never suspects he was one of the men who held her hostage.

Meanwhile, FBI Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is determined to catch the four robbers at any cost. While busting drug dealers he suspects may be used to launder the bank robbery money, he discovers the identities of Doug and his friends, but does not have enough evidence to convict them. We learn that Doug was drafted into the NHL, but was kicked out for excessive fighting. Throughout the movie Doug is portrayed as the only Charlestown native with potential, which his friends and family destroy by constantly dragging him into crime. Jim is portrayed as Doug's worst influence, a friend who prefers to shoot first and ask questions later. Jim's family adopted Doug when he was six,after Doug's father (Chris Cooper) was imprisoned and his mother ran away.

This movie, while not overly terrible, has many failings, which prevented it from fully captivating me, the first of which is its overwhelming predictability. Affleck's character is meant to be such a nice bank robber that he gets to know the woman they took hostage while he is supposed to be making sure she has no evidence. Then after learning she knows nothing, he continues to see her, building a relationship which should never have existed in the first place. Despite the obvious problems in their relationship, Doug soon falls madly in love with Claire and decides he wants to change his life, by escaping the criminal world.

Even though the major aspects of the plot are predictable, there were details throughout the movie that I was left wondering about by the end. The four friends seem to have an inexhaustible arsenal of weapons (though they seem to favor assault rifles) and ammo, though where these all come from is never explained. Their robberies are carried out with the tactical precision of a swat team, though none mention having any sort of training. Before one robbery scene they are shown disinfecting everything they use, from guns and ammo to the gear they wear. Similarly they are shown dumping bleach at the crime scenes to destroy DNA, and destroying cameras and computer hard drives. This attention to detail befits master criminals, yet these are four Boston natives with criminal records who are easily identified.

For those who like action movies, I would recommend this as a rental rather than seeing it in theaters. If you do not like violence and vulgarity this movie is not for you because it is essentially two hours of shooting and swearing in heavy Boston accents.