The Town

The Town, directed by Ben Affleck, was a very interesting and entertaining film. It takes place in a small town called Charlestown, and it’s in modern times. It stars Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Blake Lively, and Jon Hamm. The film is basically an action film.
The plot of the film is that Doug (Affleck), James (Renner), and the rest of their crew rob a bank, and take a woman hostage when they leave. They don’t harm her or anything, they just let her go after a few minutes, away from the bank. After this, Doug follows the woman, Claire (Hall), to make sure she doesn’t go to the police like they warned her. She does end up going to the police before Doug even starts following her, and the FBI is even investigating this case. Agent Frawley (Hamm) is in charge of the case. As the investigation continues, Doug follows Claire into a Laundromat; she starts talking to him, and he actually asks her out on a date. After a while, the two of them start falling in love, but once James finds out, he’s furious. She could ruin their plans and make them get locked away! Although Claire doesn’t know it was Doug and his friends, the FBI has them as their top suspects. As soon as Agent Frawley finds out about Doug and Claire’s relationship, she becomes a suspect in the case. Agent Frawley even tells Claire that Doug and his friends are suspects, which is a giant road block for Claire and Doug’s romance. Frawley also tells Doug’s ex-girlfriend Krista (Lively) about his romance with Claire to give Doug even more problems. Doug has to fight for the love he has for Claire, as well as commit another major robbery.
The film had many amazing actors. Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner both did amazing jobs. They both really got into character, especially Renner. Jeremy portrayed the character so well, not one line seemed over-rehearsed or over-dramatic, like when his character finds out about Doug and Claire. I kept wanting to see more and more of his character James. Everyone did the accent well, not too heavy or loosely; I always understood what was being said. Also, as an upcoming actress, Blake Lively did an incredible job; she really surprised me, especially in the scene when she confronts Ben Affleck’s character about going away with him. She did well with her first “mature” role in a film; she completely fell into character. Ben Affleck did a really good job as the film’s antihero. He really understood all the emotions the character was going through, like when Doug looks for Claire after she finds out he did robbed the bank.
The plot for The Town, could have been a bit better. There were some details that were presented, then disregarded later on in the film. For example, how Claire saw the tattoo that James had on the back of his neck. It was the one way she could identify the robber, and Ben Affleck’s character knew. He even prevented Claire from seeing it when she met James. The film made such a big deal about this tattoo at first, and then after the first thirty minutes, it’s forgotten. Also, the ending fell a little flat; Ben Affleck could have done maybe a better final scene.
Overall, The Town was a good film, but it could have been better. As I mentioned before, the ending was flat; it kept me wanting more instead of giving me a sense of closure. Other than the ending, it was good. I liked how there wasn’t too much action for the sake of having action sequences, it was just right. Also, the opening of the film was a fantastic way to start. I recommend others watch it, but waiting for it to come out to rent or buy is also reasonable.