Review

Review Date: 19-September-10
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

The Town (2010)

The Town is not my kind of movie, but it's so solid I liked it anyway. It tells the familiar story of a career criminal who wants to go straight because of maturity and because he meets a woman finer than those he has known before. (In this case she drives a Prius and tends a plot in a community garden: a goddess of modern sensibilities.) Conflict results when the ties of family and intimidation that have defined his life cannot be severed easily.

What makes The Town tick can be summed up in two words: Ben Affleck. As co-writer, star, and director, Affleck's stamp is all over this film, and that is its greatest strength. The title refers to a Boston neighborhood, Charlestown, which has produced more bank robbers than any other neighborhood in America. "The Town" is weak as titles go, yet it feels right in the context of Affleck's famous, and evident, attachment to Boston. This attachment sets up a kind of irony: while Affleck-as-director favors sweeping shots of the city and intimate peeks at its byways (including a well shot chase scene), Affleck-as-star shows that the only chance for his character's redemption is getting the hell out.

I can never wholly commit to the Hollywood criminal gunning for a new start; something about making one's bed and lying in it lurks at the back of my mind. Yet Affleck's belief in betterment through growth makes a persuasive argument. This belief propelled him to a screenwriting Oscar for Good Will Hunting over a decade ago, and here he imbues the hero with a quiet dignity that precludes any suspicion of insincerity. He went down the road laid for him by his upbringing, found nothing of value, and now seeks a different path — simple and understandable. His yearning contrasts with the demeanor of his best friend and fellow felon, played by Jeremy Renner. Renner wowed critics as a man addicted to ticking time bombs in The Hurt Locker and he shows equal skill playing a ticking time bomb itself. His character serves as a warning that the brutal recklessness of the desperado awaits anyone who loses himself to defiance of the law.

Mention must be made of Rebecca Hall as the love interest and Jon Hamm as a hard-boiled FBI agent, each of whom adds a touch of personality to a nondescript role. But this is Affleck's picture in location, sentiment, and bearing. It almost seems appropriate that his career hit the skids a few years back. Like the characters who intrigue him, he is refashioning his (artistic) life before our eyes and appears poised to find success.

Copyright © 2010 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.