Everybody loves to rip on Ben Affleck. Whether its South Park‘s cheap shots, his relationship with Jennifer Lopez or the dreck he has starred in: Pearl Harbor…UGH! However, this movie reminded me that he deserves more credit than his detractors dump on him. I thought Good Will Hunting was a mediocre, predictable after-school special but he and Matt Damon wrote it to solve their problem of getting crummy roles. (Stallone did the same with Rocky.) I respect them for Will was a great accomplishment and bigger than most of the things I’ve ever done combined. Now Affleck takes a shot at directing.
The Town is about bank robbers from the Boston suburb of Charlestown; allegedly the biggest source for armed-robbery culprits and capers. The movie opens with a well-organized heist: solid disguises, serious armaments, bleach poured everywhere to foil evidence gathering, security recordings destroyed, etc. MacRay and his crew are professionals requiring the FBI’s expertise to catch. Then the implausible cliches set in as MacRay becomes emotionally involved with a witness who could send him and his gang to prison; the FBI agent getting close; more heists; conflict between MacRay and the trigger-happy member; so on.
It’s not a very interesting film yet the ending mildly surprised me; I think Out of Sight colored my expectations. What the bright spot of praise I have for it is Affleck’s skill at directing. Actors who make the shift aren’t always successful (William Shatner is often at the top of this list), especially if they have a degree of notoriety. Affleck proved to me he’s competent enough that I will seriously consider watching his sophomore attempt. I won’t go out on a limb and say he could be the next Ron Howard because he can still morph into another Peter Berg.
Worth Seeing? By now, it’s pretty old news. Heck, I realized I completely spaced on seeing Machete in its proper venue (Alamo). I got to see this several weeks ago as a thank-you gift at work but I came down with a cold which then delayed this posting. However, I still wanted to share my two cents over the potential Ben Affleck demonstrated. Over 30 years ago, Ron Howard made Grand Theft Auto with Roger Corman and I doubt anybody predicted he’d be the same person behind Splash, Apollo 13 and Parenthood in a mere few years.
As for watching this in a theater? I only would recommend it to those who are more technical than I am to challenge my claims. Everybody else should save their money, see i through Netflix streaming on their kick-ass HD TVs.