Ben Affleck returns in "The Town."

This past weekend Ben Affleck returns with his directing prowess in the film "The Town." Much like Ben Affleck's 2007 film "Gone Baby Gone," Ben both directed and wrote "The Town." However, this time around he is also staring in his movie. Will this change help make "The Town" a triumph or will his questionable acting sink "The Town?"

"The Town" is about a group of guys that rob banks in the city of Charlestown in Boston. The story focuses on Doug Macray (Ben Affleck) who is the leader of the gang and the coordinator of the robberies, and James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner) who is best friends with Doug but is a lot more unstable and unprediactable. After a bank robbery they are forced to take the bank manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), hostage, but dont end up needing her, so they let her go. Doug follows her, making sure that she will not incriminate any of them, but ends up falling for her. Throughout the rest of the film Doug tries to have a relationship with Claire, but to do this he has to shake the FBI, led by Adam  Frawley (Jon Hamm), and also break away from his own gang. But this proves to be nearly impossible since he is deeply involved with the criminals in the area, which makes it hard for him to break away from all of it.

"The Town" gets most of its high marks on its robbery scenes; each of these scenes is filmed skillfully by Affleck, who brings plenty of intensity and suspense to each scene. And of course, with all of these scenes being played out by such capable actors as Hamm and Renner, they only add to what Affleck puts in behind the camera. Affleck even brings his A game in his acting. But sadly "The Town" isn't all remarkable. The louge between Claire and Doug gets a bit repetitive as they take turns telling each other about all the terrible things that have happened in their lives. And unlike Gone Baby Gone, the dialouge isn't very compelling or thought-provoking. The most interesting scenes of dialouge are between Doug and James, and even after the viewer sifts through all the vulgarity, those scenes don't offer as much as they could have. Also, two things that are crucial if someone wants to make a great movie are a powerful beginning and ending. True, "The Town" does have a sufficient beginning, offering plenty of intrigue to the viewer to watch the rest of the film, but the ending compared to the rest of the film is really weak. Also, the ending didn't make the audience think at all, and the last line in the film did nothing to help the situation.

In the end, "The Town" was a well-made movie that is definitly worth watching for anyone who likes plenty of well-executed action and even a few emotional scenes. But it's possible that Ben Affleck was focusing all his energy on his acting and the camera work (which were outstanding) but then didn't bring everything to the table when it came to the script, which was only decent. Still, "The Town" is overal a well-rounded movie, and with this movie added to Affleck's repertoire, he is really making a name for himself as a director and proving that he is more than capable of telling an engaging story and that he is a force to be reckoned with.


3 out of 4 stars