Ben Affleck had such promise when he embarked on a directing career two years ago with Gone, Baby, Gone. It was good, but you can’t make a career out of Boston crime dramas, especially when the newest one is a half-baked attempt at a love story with a gunman trying to make some sweeping changes in his life.
In his newest film, The Town, nothing in most of the major characters, plot or dialogue rang true. It’s as false as it gets and the lies start right from the first act.
Affleck plays Doug MacRay, a master bank robber and armoured car thief who heads a gang of four in Charlestown, a rough neck of Boston renowned for developing nefarious criminals. The gang robs a bank with cold precision except that James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner) takes Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) hostage for some unexplained reason. ‘Unexplained’ is the theme of this twisted tale as MacRay then becomes involved with Keesey as a way of making sure she can’t identify any of the thieves.
Does that make any sense to anyone in the world? I suppose it’s possible, but plausible? Not at all. But there’s more — Keesey is supposedly traumatized by the violent kidnapping that ends with her driver’s licence getting stolen and her receiving a threat of further violence if she co-operates with the FBI. So days after the event, after she has contacted the FBI, MacRay watches her leave her apartment and stalks her at the laundromat. There, he approaches her and they begin a sweet relationship. Is Keesey really so distraught that she will leave by herself from her apartment and not be suspicious of this scruffy guy in the ball cap? No, she’s quite happy to strike up a conversation with a total stranger and then arrange to meet him for drinks later.
Sure, MacRay is a sensitive, caring guy who didn’t want her to be a hostage in the first place and is sad to see her tear up over the bloodstains on her collar from the heist gone awry. He sees true love finally and strives to make a big change in his life, but when push comes to shove, he happily picks up his submachine gun once again. Things only get worse as the crew takes on increasingly larger jobs. All he has to do is take on one last huge job and then he can leave the life forever with the girl of his dreams.
With all of the tenderness and love present, nothing seems truer in The Town than the heist scenes themselves, with intense explosions, unlimited gunshots, car chases and plenty of brutal violence. That’s why it’s a bad movie. It’s poorly made but the only thing that makes it worth watching is abhorrent. We are meant to revel in the gunplay and mock the entirely human moments of love between MacRay and Keesey. Also, the FBI agent (played by Jon Hamm) is not the protagonist. So he’s the bad guy and the violent repeat offender with the nice teeth is the good guy.
The very least item of note is the acting talent of Chris Cooper and Jeremy Renner. They fit the bill nicely
I came into this theatre expecting something more akin to Gone, Baby, Gone or even a shade of The Departed but what I got was an Affleck vehicle that made me care even less about him as a writer, actor and director than anything else. If he’s trying to branch out as a bona fide talent behind the camera then he should be more careful whom he picks as a star and a screenwriter.
