The Town

I haven't seen Ben Affleck's directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, but fear not, I rented it from my friendly neighbourhood video shop on the way home and will be watching it as soon as I've finished writing this.
The Town is Affleck's second director's credit for a feature film and his third screenwriting credit. He co-wrote the script alongside Gone Baby Gone screenwriter Aaron Stockhard and newcomer Peter Craig. The screenplay is an adaptation of Chuck Hogan's novel Prince Of Thieves.
From the regularly featured aerial shots of Charlestown, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, 'The Town' looks like a beautiful place to live. The streets look clean; all lined with centuries old buildings and grand trees. All that wonder fades when we learn that Charlestown has produced more bank robbers per capita than any other place on earth.
Employees at the Cambridge Merchants Bank are about to have a very bad day. Armed with assault rifles and protected by Kevlar vests and masks, four men don't just rob the bank, they also rob the armoured van during it's daily rounds. From the looks of it, these guys have been doing this for a very long time.
At gunpoint, bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall - Dorian Gray) opens the safe doors for the men. She is then blindfolded and taken hostage. Luckily for her, they let her go soon after. But before she goes, one of the robbers takes her driver's licence so they can go to her house and kill her should the need arise.
Claire does go to the FBI and is questioned by Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm - Mad Men) and his partner Dino Ciampa (Titus Welliver - Lost). While they are quick to work out who was responsible for the robbery, they have a hard time finding any evidence left behind by these very clever crooks.
A few days later Claire is at the laundromat and meets Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck - State Of Play). They hit it off and go on a few dates. Claire tells Doug about the robbery at her bank; Doug is very interested. He was one of the robbers. Naturally, as relationships go, he doesn't tell her that. He doesn't tell his friends about Claire either.
Doug's childhood friends Jem (Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker), Gloansy (Slaine) and Dez (Owen Burke) were all born in the family business of robbing banks; such is the life in Charlestown. With parents either dead or serving time, it's hard to break the cycle. When Doug falls hard for Claire, he makes plans to leave his home town and start a new life with her.
Thing is, the FBI are closing in and the gang's job organiser Fergie the Florist (Pete Postlethwaite - Inception) wants Doug to do another job worth millions.
It's hard to go wrong with a cracker of a script and a stellar cast. Thankfully, Affleck does everything right even with his semi-amateur status. It was lovely to see Jon Hamm on the big, big screen. As a Lost fan I think there could have been a bit more of Titus Welliver but hey...
The whole cast gave great performances but the stand out for me was Doug's on/off girlfriend Krista. I didn't even recognise it was Blake Lively from frikken Gossip Girl I had to look it up!
Affleck has managed to keep the tension up throughout the film. There are a few very well choreographed shoot-outs and chase scenes that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Almost brings to mind that other crime thriller Heat (but without Val Kilmer!).
I'm really looking forward to watching his first film and keen to see what he does next. Bravo Affleck, you are fast losing the 'douche' moniker : )
Pardon my brashness but the question must be asked; is Ben Affleck to Boston what Martin Scorsese is to New York? It might be too soon to tell but so far, it's kinda looking that way.
Things I learnt: 'authenticised' needs to be a real word; don't hook up with a guy so close after a robbery; never trust a florist.
In.Tense.
Eight out of ten.