The Town (2010)

“Now, we’re a long way away from a grand jury here… and we’ll never get 24 hour surveillance unless one of these idiots converts to Islam. So, we build the case. Alright, let’s get to work.” – Special Agent Adam Fawley

Number of Times Seen – 2 (8 Dec 2010 and 15 Jun 2016)

Brief Synopsis – The leader of a gang of bank robbers living in Boston must decide whether to continue his life of crime after he meets and falls in love with a women from an earlier heist while being heavily pursued by the FBI.

My Take on it – This was another movie that was recommended to me by Prime Six about six weeks ago and it actually sparked my interest in rewatching Ben Affleck’s second directorial outing which I hadn’t seen since it came out 6 years ago.

He does a very good job here of introducing us to the characters and slowly building their relationships for us to take in.

Being that Affleck is a Boston boy, he makes us feel the character of the city itself and of its inhabitants.

He slips quite comfortably into the lead role and makes us believe his character’s hardship in choosing the right path in life especially based on his heritage and upbringing.

The rest of the cast is also great, but the main standout is Jeremy Renner.

Jon Hamm plays the FBI agent chasing the gang and his performance has its ups and downs and its actually hard to actually decide whether we are suppose to like him (or root for him) or not.

I’m glad that this viewing was of the extended version which adds more “meat” to the story and tops out at 2 and a half hours.  This way, the story feels more complete and it takes its time getting us drawn in.

Bottom Line – Interesting heist movie that manages to capture the feeling of Boston and its inhabitants. Affleck shows his directing prowess with this film while also tackling the lead. Hamm has ups and downs here as he pursues the gang and we never can decide whether we like him or not. The extended version is much more coherent than the original version and is worth watching in spite of its two and a half hour length. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Director/star Ben Affleck was most concerned that the actors have authentic-sounding Boston accents. When Blake Lively read for the part of Krista, she sounded so authentic that he asked her where she grew up in Boston. She was born and raised in California. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy

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