The Unseen Movie Review - The Town

By Robert Dixter Sep 21, 2010, 15:49 GMT

Doug MacRay (Affleck) is an unrepentant criminal, the de facto leader of a group of ruthless bank robbers who pride themselves in stealing what they want and getting out clean. With no real attachments, Doug never has to fear losing anyone close to him. But that all changed on the gang\'s latest job, when they briefly took a hostage--bank manager, Claire Keesey (Hall). Though they let her go unharmed, Claire is ...more

It must have been around 2004 or 2005 when Ben Affleck the actor learned a lesson from Ben Affleck the movie star. It wasn’t ask John Woo why there are birds in the middle of an action scene, it was that bad films will haunt you for the rest of your life.

Even if you are good in a bad movie (which he wasn’t), it’s still a bad movie and your name is tied to it. So Ben stopped saying yes to outrageous paychecks and started saying yes to decent roles that showed he could actually act. It was also around this time that Ben had his first child with Jennifer Garner, and the last thing you want is for your daughter to grow up and ask you why you made Surviving Christmas. Can you imagine what Violet might say when she’s a teenager, “You’re mad at me cause I was smoking pot? Who are you to lecture me? You made Jersey Girl!”

After cleaning up his image and getting rid of that thing that was always hanging on his arm, which some referred to as J.Lo, Ben tried his hand at directing. How hard could it be? I mean Mel Gibson did it, and his mug shot looks like he sweats more than NBC’s The Biggest Loser competitors after climbing a flight of stairs. Turns out Ben was pretty good at directing. He wasn’t just good, he was very good. If you haven’t seen Gone Baby Gone you should check it out. It seems like it was directed by a guy who is very sure of what he wants.

Ben is back this week with The Town, another film set in Boston. I’ve read a few articles that harp on this fact, but before he moved to Europe Woody Allen set all his films in New York and no one complained. Ben sets his action in places he knows. He grew up in Boston and knows the people there. I might even argue that people in Boston add a greater texture to films than people in New York. The Town looks like a well constructed drama set against a thief’s world. It also looks really good. Ben has done another great job casting this film. In Gone Baby Gone he had Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. In The Town he has Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm and Chris Cooper.

The big difference between the two films is that Ben cast himself in the lead role in The Town. If we get Paycheck Ben then this film is in big trouble, if we get Hollywoodland Ben then he could pull this thing off. Either way, when you cast yourself in your own movie from a script that you also wrote it better be good, because film critics who think they should be starring in movies but don’t look like Ben Affleck are looking to rip you apart. From the trailers I’ve seen, The Town looks like a smart cops and robbers drama, something that we might have gotten from Sidney Lumet in the 70’s. So Ben, I support you and will be there opening weekend, but please promise us you won’t make Gigli 2 even if you could cast Jennifer Garner in the Jennifer Lopez role.