T's Take on THE TOWN

You know what's awesome?

Violence.

There were a bunch of gunfights in this movie, really more than was necessary, but whatever. There were dudes with huge guns shooting at cops. And the cops? They were like, shooting back.

There's really not much to say here. If you saw the trailer, you saw the movie; the plotline is about as formulaic and baseline as it gets. The characters are exactly as deep as they need to be, which is to say that they aren't, and by the time you've met all of them it's not hard to tell who's going to make it out alive.

You mean the underdeveloped nobody third-wheel driver dies? And so does the bad guy? And so does the third-strike "I'm never going back to jail!" hardass with a penchant for unnecesary cruelty? There are no twists, per say, but again, that isn't to say that any were needed. This thing could only have gone one way, and though I was never surprised, I can't say I was ever disappointed either. The odds are good that if you find yourself walking into a theater for The Town you know exactly what you're there for, and you're going to get it, too.

Ben Affleck is what he is. It's like when I first saw Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity and thought to myself, "Wow, this guy can actually carry a serious role." I guess I had that moment with Ben in The Town, but in a different sense. His character is this beaten down ex-drunk fuckup with nothing to live for and a bunch of leftover friends/acquaintences that really do him more harm than good. He's got this really convincing washed-out unable-to-care disconnect that I as the viewer couldn't help but sympathize with. He's got this depressing 'poor-me' attitude as somebody who goes through life totally unloved because he doesn't love himself. Which suits him.

I guess what I'm saying is that Ben Affleck has found his place in my life, finally, and I could watch him go uncared for all day. For the first time he subtracted nothing from the work overall and fit in nicely with his surroundings.

Watch The Town.

M's Musings on THE TOWN

The Town.  Dir.  Ben Affleck.  Screenplay by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard.  Based on the novel by Chuck Hogan.  Ft.  Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner and Blake Lively.  Warner Bros, 2010.

T. and I thought we'd celebrate Thanksgiving by going to the movies last night.  When we arrived at the theatre, we realized we didn't know what any of the movies were.  Strangely, there were no posters, and no real advertisements, so we ended up piecing together what each of the movies were about in a haphazard way.  We asked a group of stoned teenagers.  This was their recommendation.

When chatting with them, we realized we knew exactly what movie this was.  In fact, T. mentioned that he had been waiting for this movie for months.  Who knew!  I came in with no expectations, beyond the fact that this was a "heist film".

I was pleasantly shocked at how much I enjoyed this film.  Ben Affleck was bang on, stealing my heart while still making me want to avoid him.  I loved how "all in the family" this story was.  Each of the crew members were tied to each other by family, sex, money and drugs.  As a result, the individual actions or desires of one member are subject to the interpretation and punishment by the group.

For the bank manager, I thought that she was kind of sympathetic, but very quick to fall for Ben.  The tatooed dream boat with an honest blue collar job, is a thrill for the "toonie" yuppie who otherwise spends all her free time helping the innocent and gardening for the community.  The extremes between the idyllic woman and the criminal with a heart of gold were perhaps a little too extreme.  If they developed her character a bit more, gave her something besides her "sunny days", I think she would have been more likeable.

I found the search for the water very moving.  I felt completely caught up with her steps as she relived it. I can only imagine how the trauma of such an experience could affect a person longterm.

T. taught me about the "death by cop" suicide attempts of the various crew members, which I thought made sense.  If you only have two options, life in a maximum security prison or death, I think I would make a last stand, too.

I found it did really validate the crew's actions and emphasize their humanity.  That, mixed with an unsympathetic cop who also went home to "nuke his dinner" really disrupted the binary of good/evil which made the movie more interesting.   The bad guys were "punished", but the system itself was put into question.  I liked that.

Overall, I did find that the movie was too violent.  I found it occasionally shocking, but that probably was mostly to do with the fact that the characters were relatively well developed before they were killed. This wasn't a random massacre, but a carefully executed game of cat and mouse by men on both sides of the law.

It was also interesting that they chose to throw in a sister/lover character to act as a foil to the bank manager.  She was disregarded by Ben Affleck, but at the same time, they did make a point of showing the two of them having some kind of weird pity fuck earlier in the film.

I thought this was an interesting, fun and powerful film.  Usually heist films have way less heart.  Good job, Ben Affleck.  I think we may need to consider expanding our repertoire to include more of your films.