The Town (2010)

With Gone Baby Gone Ben Affleck silenced many of those who had scoffed at the notion of him making the transition from actor to director. It was one of my favourite films from 2007 and really impressed me. With The Town Affleck shows that his first directorial effort was no fluke. Set in Charlestown neighbourhood of Boston, an area that has the dubious honour of being home to more armed robbers and criminals than any other, the film follows a group of four friends trapped in this cycle as they plan their last couple of heists. Affleck himself plays Doug MacRay, the smartest of the bunch and one who feels an obligation and a sense of loyalty to the lifestyle, whilst also secretly wanting to get away and escape. Jeremy Renner continues his strong run of recent performances here as James, Doug's best friend and potential loose cannon, a guy who lives for the thrill but who's recklessness endangers the group. On the opposite side of the law Jon Hamm is clearly enjoying himself playing a vindictive FBI agent brought in to deal with the recent spate of robberies. By working to make Hamm's character unlikeable the film clearly wants you to root for the criminals and Affleck has an affection for Boston and its people that is evident here, as it has been throughout his career.
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The relationship between the group is authentic and measured, these are characters that you can sympathise with to a degree and understand. The tribal nature of the town and it's reputation is prevalent throughout, the underlying ache for change and helplessness of being trapped in circumstance feels like an echo from Affleck's filmography, specifically Good Will Hunting. What separates The Town is that it manages to mix in a series of exciting and well realised action scenes alongside the drama. Affleck shows a natural aptitude for these and there are some tense and exciting shootouts throughout the film, largely assisted by the realistic tone that grounds the whole thing in something approaching reality, lending a sense of danger and risk often not found in such sequences.
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A large chunk of the film centres around the relationship that develops between Doug and Claire (Rebecca Hall), a bank clerk who is taken hostage by the group at the start of the film (briefly), however as she is unaware of Doug's true nature she becomes his secret, a link to a world outside of violence and crime. Rebecca Hall has been someone that has caught my eye in recent years as a really interesting and talented actress, and she delivers another great performance here, though I felt she was let down somewhat by the script. Her character isn't given a lot to do except be a symbol, a representation of a better life and she is never truly given a character to embrace. She plays sweet very well, but a more rounded arc would have helped her side of the story resonate more than it ultimately did. Elsewhere Blake Lively steps outside of her Gossip Girl clean-cut nature to play Doug's ex, Krista, a girl dragged down into drugs and with a young daughter. She is fine, but I was constantly reminded throughout of someone playing a role, as opposed to, say, Amy Adams in The Fighter who managed to convince as a character, but this again could be attributed to the scripts somewhat stereotypical portrayal of her character.
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The film as a whole, whilst enjoyable and very well put together failed to engage me as completely as I wanted it to. Whether it was the disconnect between cheering on armed robbers, more than happy to gun down policemen, or the script's occasional lack of subtly I'm not sure, but compared to Gone Baby Gone the film has slipped from my memory a lot faster. That said it is still a very good film full of great performances and insight into an area and a culture I had little to no knowledge of, and further proof that Affleck as a director is someone with a real voice and something to say.