The Town is a 2010 movie directed by Ben Affleck, who I am normally not a fan of at all as an actor or a person. However, both him, and this movie, are surprisingly good. The movie is about a group of professional bank robbers in the city of Charlestown. After a bank robbery, the leader and mastermind of the group, Doug, begins dating one of their ex-hostages, while at the same time being roped in by the mob to carry out even more robberies.
The Town feels like a combination of The Departed, and Heat, both of which are absolutely incredible films. It takes the high tech realistic bank robberies from Heat, and places them in the setting with the mob from The Departed. This turns out surprisingly well, particularly with the setting of Charlestown. The world building is very good in this movie. Charlestown feels very poor, seedy, and the perfect place for a crime group to operate in. Sadly, with the exception of Ben Affleck’s character Doug and the hostage Claire, the rest of the characters feel very one dimensional. Jeremy Renner is the only other character with personality, but sadly that personality is just angry all the time. Still, he at least has a climactic death. Similarly, the FBI agent played by John Hamm that’s pursuing them really isn’t given any characterization. In Heat, which this movie is clearly basing itself off of, the cop pursuing the bank robbers is given an entire domestic life, and is a very interesting character because of it.
The action is good overall in this movie, if not a little inconsistent. In the ending shootout, one of the robbers is hit in the chest by a rifle and is knocked to the floor. However he survives because he was wearing a vest. But Later In The shootout, another robber is hit twice in his vest and completely shrugs it off like nothing happened. This is really the only goof or misstep with the action that I can think of however, and it’s pretty solid overall.
The plot is fairly average as far as robber movies go. The only real unique things are the setting of Charlestown, and the relationship between the ex-hostage Claire, and the leader of the group Doug. The movie utilizes both of these very well however, and it gives it a very interesting tone overall. The plot isn’t as complex as The Departed, but still, it works.
The Town is an above average bank robber movie. It’s fun to watch, even though it is maybe a little too long. I’d definitely recommend it, especially to fans of The Departed and Heat.