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(092310) Throughout the years, many actors and actresses have
chosen to expand their creative horizons by moving behind the camera in order to
try their hand at directing. One of the most unexpectedly successful of these
endeavors occurred a few years ago when Ben Affleck decided to pull away from
his then-stalled acting career to write and direct an adaptation of Dennis
Lehane’s crime novel “Gone Baby Gone.” Instead of the insufferable vanity
project that many were expecting, the film turned out to be a solid piece of
filmmaking and Affleck’s direction was as strong and self-assured as could be.
Having proven to naysayers with that effort that he could indeed direct a film,
the challenge for him with “The Town,” his second feature, is to show that “Gone
Baby Gone” was not simply a one-off fluke and that he has what it takes to carve
out a second career for himself as a legitimate filmmaker. Although he may not
have challenged himself from a dramatic standpoint by making another crime drama
set amidst the mean streets of Boston, he has definitely upped his game in terms
of size and scope without letting himself get overwhelmed in the process and the
result is an uncommonly smart and well-made piece of work that proves without a
shadow of a doubt that Affleck is indeed a talented filmmaker.
Based on the Chuck Hogan novel “Prince of Thieves,” the film is set in the
working-class neighborhood of Charleston, an area that, according to a opening
title card, has spawned more bank robbers and armored car thieves than anyplace
else in the U.S. Doug MacRay (Affleck) is a second-generation criminal who,
along with hotheaded best pal James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), leads a small crew
that specializes in performing meticulously planned and executed heists in the
service of local crime lord Fergus Colm (Pete Postelthwaite). During the bank
job that kicks off the story, things get a little bit out of control and they
wind up taking one of the employees, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), as a hostage
and drive her around blindfolded for a while before letting her go unharmed.
When it is discovered that Claire lives only a few blocks away, James becomes
concerned about how much she really knows and Doug volunteers to meet up with
her under false pretenses in order to weasel any information out of her.
Inevitably, the two soon fall in love and Doug, who conceals the relationship
from his friends, begins to contemplate getting out of crime for good and
settling down. Alas, this proves to be easier said than done because neither
James, who spent nine years in prison for killing someone who was coming after
Doug, nor Fergus are willing to let him go and push him into committing
increasingly risky jobs. At the same time, he is also being doggedly pursued by
Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm), an FBI agent trying to gather enough solid evidence to
put Doug and his gang away for good.
As you can surmise, “The Town” is not going to win any awards for the
originality of its storyline--there is hardly an aspect of the plot that hasn’t
been seen in a hundred other police procedurals over the years. What sets it
apart from other crime films is that Affleck, as he did in “Gone Baby Gone,” is
less interested in the mechanics of the plotting than he is in bringing the
characters and their surroundings to life in ways that feel real. All of the
characters, for example, run the risk of falling into clichés--the good-natured
hood who wants out, the innocent dame, the hot-head pal, the obsessed cop--but
Affleck and co-writers Peter Craig & Aaron Stockard have managed to largely
avoid such a trap and have made them into three-dimensional characters whose
behavior cannot be easily predicted and this helps to add a certain amount of
interest to scenes that might have otherwise played as routine. For example, it
is inevitable that at some point, James will discover Doug and Claire together:
when that happens here, it turns out to be an alternately funny and
tension-filled moment that is one of the best scenes in the movie simply because
we have no idea where it is going. At the same time, Affleck also shows himself
to be pretty adept when it comes to staging the more action-oriented material as
well--the opening heist has a swiftness and attention to detail that may put
some viewers in mind of the work of Michael Mann, a centerpiece car chase
through the narrow streets of Charleston is one of the most effective such
scenes to come around in a while and while it goes on perhaps a little too long
for its own good, the finale heist and subsequent shootout in the bowels of
Fenway Park is pretty exciting and will no doubt make the film an instant cult
classic in the Boston area.
Another thing that separates “The Town” from other recent crime films is the
high level of performances that Affleck elicits from his cast, most notably from
himself. In the past, he has too often coasted through his roles without putting
any real effort into creating distinctive characters but this time around, he
has clearly decided to make more of an effort and makes the soulful criminal
Doug into a real and recognizable person. Likewise, the increasingly invaluable
Rebecca Hall avoids the potential clichés inherent in her role and makes Claire
into a touchingly vulnerable character--when she finally learns of Doug’s
deception, we can really feel the betrayal and anger. In his first major role
since his star-making turn in “The
Hurt Locker,” Jeremy Renner brings a ferocious high-wire energy to his role
that galvanizes every scene that he is in. While Jon Hamm isn’t in the film as
much as one might assume from the ads, he also makes the most of his moments as
well and has a couple of great over-the-top speeches that are likely to be
quoted for years to come. In smaller roles, Pete Postelthwaite and Chris Cooper,
who turns up for one extended scene as Doug’s imprisoned father, make strong
impressions as representatives of an earlier era of criminals who have passed
their darkness on to the next generation with varying degrees of regret. The
only performance that doesn’t really come off is Blake Lively’s turn as James’
sister and Doug’s former flame--in a film that otherwise feels authentic in
every possible way, her attempts to come across as a tough-talking floozy with a
heavy Boston accent come across as slightly ridiculous.
“The Town” does have a couple of hiccups here and there. A story point about a
childhood trauma involving Doug’s long-vanished mother feels as it has been
uncomfortably shoehorned in and the final scenes drag on a little longer than
necessary. Nevertheless, these are minor quibbles and for the most part, “The
Town” is a solidly entertaining piece of filmmaking that provides viewers with
plenty of emotional thrills to go along with the more conventional visceral
ones. More importantly, it fully establishes Ben Affleck as a filmmaker worthy
of note. If “Gone Baby Gone” proved that Affleck could direct a film, then this
one shows that he should be doing it more often.
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