साज़िशों का शहर

Ben Affleck's second feature film as a director -- if nothing else -- proves he's no fluke. In all the ways his sincere and revealing debut "Gone Baby Gone" succeeds, so does "The Town." Both are Boston-based crime dramas that are both touchingly dramatic at times yet gripping at others. More impressive with his work on "The Town," however, is that it proves he could just as easily go on to direct an action blockbuster as he could an Oscar-winning drama.

It starts with the cast and the performances he gets from them. In 2007, he helped Amy Ryan to a supporting actress nomination, and that's ignoring the other talents in the film such as Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan and Ed Harris. In "The Town," he gets Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner in his first major film since his breakout in "The Hurt Locker" and Jon Hamm in his first major film since TV's "Mad Men" took off. He also gets a pair of up-and-comers in Rebecca Hall and "Gossip Girl" star Blake Lively. And that's not to mention Pete Postelthwaite and Chris Cooper. Next to "Inception," it's the best ensemble cast of the year.

Based on the Chuck Hogan novel "Prince of Thieves," the film follows a team of bank robbers from Charlestown, an area notorious for grooming the best at intercepting armored cars and taking down banks. As with "Gone Baby Gone," also based on a novel (by Dennis Lehane), the city of Boston and the people and culture are as important to Affleck as the plot. He's sure to let shots of the Charlestown bridge and Fenway Park soak in amidst the ever-building pinch the main characters are in.

Doug MacRay (Affleck) and his buddy Jim (Renner) and a couple others pull off a bank job in the opening scene, but when it doesn't go exactly as planned, they're forced to kidnap the bank manager (Hall). To make sure she didn't see anything and can hand them on a platter to the feds (led by Jon Hamm's Special Agent Frawley), Doug trails her, only to find himself falling for her.

"The Town" is one of those crime dramas/bank-job action films that while not revelatory for the genre, executes everything well and sticks to a character-driven story in order to stay meaningful. Perhaps the reason it works so well is because it floats in between the drama, never becoming too much of a guns 'n robbers flick, but also not slipping into crime melodrama for too long. Affleck's performance as MacRay acts in accordance; it's tastefully understated and he lets go of the machismo that has marred a few of his previous roles.

The film also has an unexpected but much appreciated sense of humor. In a mile-a-minute crime drama/thriller, you don't expect to laugh the way you will in "The Town," which speaks even more to the writing and Affleck's versatility. Even if there are some plot conventions and no-surprise characters (as good as Hamm is, he's playing every other quick-witted FBI guy in films), the dialogue is sharp, the story is exciting and the way we are so easily able to see things from MacRay's perspective as the bank robber who wants out makes up for any use of convention as a crutch.

There's no doubt that if "The Town" becomes a success that studios will seek out Affleck for some more high-profile projects and it will certainly be interesting to see how he handles material not rooted in Boston sub-culture. As long as he continues to get such memorable performances out of his actors, he'll be doing things on the other end of the camera for a long time to come.

~Steven C

Visit my site http://moviemusereviews.com

Despite not having seen Gone Baby Gone, I've heard a lot of good things about Ben Affleck's switch to directing and so I decided to watch The Town, which put simply is about band robbers but to expand on that, the film is also about the leader of the group, played by Ben Affleck.

When watching the trailer it easy to draw comparisons to Heat and The Departed but this is different. Many films about crime make the audience side either the police or the criminals yet The Town allows the audience to see people from both sides of the law fairly. Jon Hamm plays an honest working FBI officer while Ben Affleck plays the criminal. The film is shot predominately from the criminals perspective, therefore the audience feel the same sense of urgency that they do but we don't want to see them gun down the FBI and police and let them get away with their crimes. It is a difficult challenge for the director to deal with but he does it well and the end result is very good.

The entire cast are all fantastic even when given smaller roles, for example Chris Cooper and the late Pete Postlethwaite steel the scenes that they are in. Jeremy Renner has earned a lot of attention from his role and he deserves it, giving an honest performance, which clearly took a lot of research to perfect. An almost unrecognisable Blake Lively and Rebecca Hall are both great. Ben Affleck and Jon Hamm as the opposing forces are also great but it is Renner's performance that stands out.

As a crime film, it is important that the action doesn't turn the whole film into an all guns blazing film. The action scenes are handed pretty well and the car chases through the minor roads of Boston are really exciting to watch.

The Town is not only only a solid action/ crime film but also marks Affleck as a great director. I strongly recommend this film if you are interested in the genre. While it is not perfect, it does so much well, that you would be missing out if you didn't see this.

A bank robbery goes a little different than planned when one of the robbers takes a hostage. Doug (Affleck) has to duty to check up on the hostage after she is let go, to see if she knows anything about the crew. Surprise, they start dating. Can he continue his life of robbing banks and have a love life? Will his crew accept that he is with her? Will she ever find out? This is The Town.

Gone Baby Gone was his first directorial effort set in the city of Boston, The Town is his second. Ben obviously loves the city and if he keeps making films like these two, I'll be happy with some more Boston. I'm not going to preach about which film is better, their both different. Gone Baby Gone has more of an emotional punch with it's climax and tough decisions. The Town doesn't reach those heights, but it's a well made tense action thriller with a bit of a romance thrown in.

This time Affleck is in front of the camera as well. He seems to have left his pretty boy blockbuster image behind him. I'm thankful, I can only take so many Armageddons or Pearl Harbors. He's matured as an actor, this is evident by his roles as of late. State of Play and Hollywoodland are two examples. Of course he's had some fun films in between, but he's probably the best thing about those. Extract anyone?

For The Town he has assembled quite the cast. Jeremy Renner, who is hot off of The Hurt Locker plays his buddy with an attitude who won't think twice about pulling the trigger if you're in his way. Mad Men's Jon Hamm who is the FBI agent on their trail, his partner is Man in Black actor Titus Welliver, who was also in Gone Baby Gone. I wouldn't mind seeing more of him in films and if he's Affleck's good luck charm, all the better. Blake Lively has a small role and she does skanky a little too well. She has a thing for Affleck's character and she has a daughter, but he's obviously fallen for someone else. Rebecca Hall, who has the hard role of playing the woman who is dating her abductor. Things don't look too well for this relationship.

The Town shows Affleck's ability at directing action sequences. Gone Baby Gone wasn't full of gunfights and car chases, but The Town is. There are three separate heists in the film, the opening, the middle section and the climactic ending. All three are different from each other, one is in a bank, the other a truck and finally a baseball stadium. Each heist was exciting to watch and gave you those Heat moments. It's obviously the Heat was influential in the making of this film. It seems all movies that have robberies in them look to Heat.

Ben Affleck had a hand in writing the film, he of course won an Oscar with Matt Damon for writing Good Will Hunting. It appears he's found his footing once again and hopefully the allure of the blockbuster won't claim him once more. The Town is a successful film made for adults. It's slick, well acted and has enough thrilling moments to keep those who seek it entertained. The film centres mostly on Affleck and his new love and the heist bits are second fodder. Renner is the only one who gets some spotlight from the crew, the other two are simply background faces. The Town does it's job as a movie and Ben Affleck has found himself a new career.

Great acting and good directing and the way the director said the sequence of the scenes made it more interesting to me and your relationship and this movie makes me think a lot about when life was more than just digital communication I think more than justice social media or things like that I know that this subject is not related to the movie in some ways but this movie makes me so nostalgic to the era of its release because back when I think in this era I feel like I was like more involved reality than in digital world we live in I know it's not that old to say this movie give me that feeling but it really did and overall it's a beautiful movie and a great watch it deserves totally your time and it's worth you watching thank you for reading.

Four friends Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Albert Magloan (Slaine) and Desmond Elden (Owen Burke) are robbers working the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. In their latest job, they take the bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) hostage and then let her go. Doug fake dates Claire to make sure she can't ID them. He's also having sex with James' drugged out sister Krista Coughlin (Blake Lively). Meanwhile they are being investigated by the FBI led by Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm).

This is a richly character driven crime thriller. Ben Affleck knows these characters well. And acting with the intense Jeremy Renner makes Affleck better. The only actor who looks out of place is Blake Lively. She just can't get rid of that Cali feel and her accent sounds terrible. Brit Rebecca Hall does a better job than her. The action is exciting. And the story is riveting. But it's the characters and the actors that are so engaging.