The Town

Directed by Ben Affleck

2010

Viewed September 2010

I love LOVE Ben Affleck as a director. His directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, is one of my favorites. The Town is his second directorial effort and I definitely loved it as well. Ben Affleck as an actor gets better with age. I'm not usually a fan, but I did like him in this as a conflicted bank robber. Basically this group of guys robs a bank (as they have many times before) and one of the dudes takes a teller as a hostage in case they need leverage when the police show up. They let her go, but took her driver's license and threatened her life if she talked to the FBI. Ben Affleck's character goes to check on her and they end up falling in love (she doesn't know who he really is since everyone had been wearing masks). There are some awesome car chases and a huge shoot out as well. Jon Hamm from Mad Men plays the FBI agent who is after the robbers and his performance definitely made me want to check out his TV show. I also loved Jeremy Renner (as I always do) who plays a total slime bag. This movie reminded me of The Departed, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was better than The Departed. A