The Town

The Town is another directorial piece from Ben Affleck that I really liked. After watching it, I can state that there is a certain similarity to Heat. Affleck excelled the most in choosing the actors for the individual roles, as everyone performed excellently. I especially liked Jeremy Renner, who pushed his performance to the absolute peak, and in this respect, no one else competed with him. The film was made in a way that made you root for the main character, even though he is a bank robber. The cinematography and action were perfect. The only downsides of the film are that Jon Hamm as the FBI detective didn’t get as much screen time as he deserved, and the ending could have been a bit less optimistic. I give it 80%. (09/08/2016)

A melancholic and technically flawless crime drama. The script is not as smart as the script of the masterpiece of the genre, Heat (but I’d rather not compare The Town with it, they are completely different), but it’s still much better than this year’s competition, which is nice. I didn’t like Ben Affleck in the main role so much (I think Jeremy Renner was more charismatic), but he did a great job as director (for instance, I haven’t seen a better car chase this year). In general, I have a problem rooting for the evil characters in films like this, and it was similar in this case. Emotionally, only the last few minutes touched me. It was nice to watch, but it didn’t surprise me at all. In short, a nice, satisfactory thriller, but nothing to write home about. Weak four stars. (03/12/2010)

A decent spectacle, but a few odd illogicalities (the hero never found out himself what happened to his mother), clichés and an overly fairytale ending hurt it somewhat in my eyes. I liked Gone Baby Gone a lot more, and above all it was a film I had to think about for a long time. The Town has nowhere near that impact. But Ben Affleck is a really good director, and especially when it comes to action he does a professional job. (08/02/2016)

It is more than obvious that this is Affleck looking up in awe at Mann’s Heat. And it is already clear that he definitely has the talent to film a similar, timeless masterpiece. The Town is not yet that masterpiece, not even in the extended version (I haven’t seen the regular one, but I certainly wouldn’t cut even a minute off the longer one). For that this is too much of a Heat beta version 0.5, but... But this is the only negative I can think of. (06/12/2010)

Ben Affleck scored again for me, this time twice over. I can't even decide if he was better as an actor or director. The screenplay is admittedly corny a few times and not brimming with originality, but I still enjoyed it. I gobbled this film up from beginning to end. The action was spread out evenly and because of that there was no time for boredom. The dramatic scenes were not needlessly thrown in and the dialogue was believable enough. Additionally, I was pleased with Blake Lively's minor role and the impressive music throughout. A very strong 4 stars. (10/09/2011)