The Town

The Town
2010
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner

I'm going to say it right now. Anyone can fight me on this, but I have to say it. I know specific people that will fight me on it. But I'm still going to say it. Ben Affleck is a great actor. Better than Matt Damon. Strictly opinion of course. I just can't possibly think of a "phenomenal" role that Damon has played. Granted, I have never seen The Informant, but I don't think that should matter. Affleck is fantastic. He is so solid with certain performances, it makes me wonder why people give him so much crap.

This all began when I saw Armageddon for the first time. He does such a great job. No, I'm not saying that Affleck should have won an award. To be honest, I don't think any awards should be given out to anyone for a movie directed by Michael Bay. Those movies are purely for entertainment, and not film savvy folk. Getting back on track, this movie was great.

It wasn't phenomenal, it wasn't horrendous, it wasn't good. It was great. There's as much as an honest opinion as I can throw out there. The movie was very predictable. And yes, it did have many cliches that bank robber movies always do. But the spin that this movie took was very well thought out and executed. I actually cared about the characters. It wasn't like some lunch box robbery movie where everything is in one package but nothing really goes together.

Takers is a perfect example of a robbery movie gone wrong. It all started with their casting. The Town was cast perfectly (all except Jon Hamm, who I actually can't stand). His Boston accent flitted in and out of reality, and his overbearing nature made him seem like the bad guy even though he was playing an FBI agent. The truth is, we were all rooting for the robbers. Affleck and Renner played well off each other, and found a ground that made them seem like they had been robbing banks years before Good Will Hunting.

Affleck's tantric acting makes this movie one of my favorite cops-n-robbers flicks. The desire to hate the FBI agent and even the girl that makes everything blow up was nostalgic and meditating to my soul. The thought of watching another robbery movie won't allow me to have imagination and creativity due to the thoughts I have on this movie. Maybe Matt Damon will make an awesome movie like this one.

Stars (out of 10): 7 1/2