The Town is one of the biggest surprises of 2010, bringing us an amazing story, acting, and action from director and star Ben Affleck. Who would of thought a story about some robbers in a Charlestown would turn out to be one of the best films of this year.
The story follows a group of robbers; Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) his best friend Jimmy (Jeremy Renner), and two of their other friends. During one of their bank robberies, a woman who works at the bank named Claire (Rebicca Hall), catches a glimpse of Jimmy's tattoo. The group soon notices that she saw it, and Jimmy decides it would be safer if the kidnap her so she doesn't say anything.
The eventually leave her on a beach on blind folded on her own. Soon an FBI agent named Adam (Jon Hamm) to basically spill the beans on her abduction. She tells them everything except for the tattoo she saw on the back of one of their necks.
Soon Jimmy finds out she's been talking to the FBI, and in order to make sure she say nothing else to the FBI, Doug decides to stock Claire. But when stocking, he grows fond of her and they begin to develop a relationship, with her still unaware of hims being one of the men who kidnapped her, and Jimmy and the rest of the guys still not knowing about their relationship. The story shows us the emotional story of the result of all this lying.
The acting is literally pinch perfect, especially by Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, and Affleck himself. Even the background actors are great at there role. Though sometimes it can be hard to understand them with their heavy Boston accents.
The plot is surprisingly terrific, leaving you at the edge of your seat, with so many twists and turns you really don't know what's going to happen next, and not to many movie offer that anymore. You definitely get attached to the characters, mostly Claire, Jimmy, and Doug. The action and robberies were done stunningly to definitely keep you interested. I must say at know point in the movie did I even think of the word "bored".
I really liked Hall's performance as Claire, but I found Lively's character a bot over dramatic and at most time annoying. Hamm played an excellent villain (Whose actually in reality the good guy), and Renner nailed his role as Doug's over aggressive best friend.
The movie got more f-bombs then I can count, so please leave the kids and family at home for this one. The Town proves that Affleck has the makings of a terrific director, and can just be one of the best films of this year. I highly recommend The Town as a must see film for this year.
I give The Town 4.5 stars out of 5:
