It’s the best heist movie since Heat so you just have to see The Town, Ben Affleck’s new film. I have never been much of a Ben fan (well, I have been a Ben Rothlisberger fan until recently), particularly his acting. But I admired his writing skill in Good Will Hunting (for which he and Matt Damon won an Academy Award) and his directorial debut in Gone Baby Gone. But he hooked me here as both an actor and as director and co-writer. And the comparisons to Heat are unmistakable.
The Town (Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Chris Cooper) – It’s been awhile since I gave a film a “Triple A” endorsement, but here is one enthusiastic YES to The Town. Ben Affleck directs, stars and co-wrote this Heat-like heist drama that features a smart criminal gang (led by Affleck’s Doug MacRay) against an FBI Special Agent (Mad Men’s Jon Hamm). It is so much like Heat, the fantastic De Niro-Pacino battle of wits between the gang of robbers and the band of cops that it borders on cinematic theft. Affleck’s film captures the motif of Charlestown, the section of Boston known for breeding bank robbers. Affleck, like his close friend and collaborator, Matt Damon, come from Boston and clearly understands its ethnic neighborhoods and history. In MacRay, we have the mastermind (yes, Ben was believable as a mastermind) who falls for a bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall of Frost/Nixon and Vicky Cristina Barcelona) who his gang kidnapped briefly during a robbery.
Something is going on with MacRay, though. It might be conscience or self-realization but he is ready to get out of the bank robbery business and head to Florida to start a new life. But like Pacino in Godfather III, he finds out it isn’t easy to get out. He is forced by his mentor/crime boss florist (yes, you read that right) played by outstanding character actor Pete Postlethwaite to do one last job. It’s the mother lode – stealing cash from Fenway Park. Meanwhile, the cops are hot on his trail. The gang, which includes James Coughlin (played by Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner of The Hurt Locker) as the most dangerous, thrill-seeking, trigger-happy, and on-the-edge of the bunch, wants the money. So why does MacRay go along or is just out of fear? No, it’s for Claire, of course (in Heat, she’s the Amy Brenneman character). He wants to protect her and to run off with her but she is appalled to find out from the FBI that he was the mastermind of the crime. Will she work with the FBI as the Ashley Judd character was in Heat or is there an alternative?
The film is full of big shoot-outs between the cops and our band of renown. Roger Ebert says he’s getting tired of these but this one has that Heat quality that is both unrealistic but compelling. Will the bad guys (or are they our anti-heroes?) get away? Will MacRay and the girl get together again? Will the cops get their men? That is the excitement of the film. If you haven’t seen Heat, see The Town first. If you have, get ready to relive a lot of the original with a few different twists.