The Town

Summary: The story revolves around a group of friends from Charlestown who are a sophisticated bank robbing team and their heists. The main character, Doug MacRay, is played by Ben Affleck and struggles with his identity and his attempts at changes in his life while being reminded who he is by his opposite, but best friend, James Coughlin, played by Jeremy Renner. At the center of the struggle for change is an assistant bank-manager who happens to be traumatized by the first bank robbery in the movie, but as events unfolded, falls in love with one of the bank robbers who took her hostage, Doug MacRay.

Review: The cast was an all-star one with a lot of big names: Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, and Blake Lively. The performance of Jon Hamm was a bit disappointing however, but maybe the story was less about the MacRay vs. FBI agent as it was about MacRay leaving his past in the past. Blake Lively had a smaller role than the trailers indicated, but Rebecca Hall gave a great performance. The movie had plenty of playful moments while keeping the suspense in the air and I was captivated by the plot. The film really had an edge and the scenes were well shot and the dialogue was well written. The only negative is the fact that the movie was probably edited to fit a shorter time and a few scenes seemed to have been irrelevant or were trying too hard in the context of the movie. It was still an awesome film, and even in those "try-too-hard" moments, an enthralling film shone through.

Further Question/Philosophy/Theme: Can somebody really change his life without leaving the neighborhood he grew up in? What's it to be inside of love and have a woman change your life like it did for Doug MacRay or is that just a movie type idea.

Power Rating (Out of 5) and Comments: 4 This film was spectacular and one of the better suspense crime films that I've seen. I thought the movie would be a little cliche and the action scenes would make the film, but I was pleasantly surprised. Ben Affleck in this film with his Bostonian accent makes me forget how much better Matt Damon's career has been than his co-star in "Good Will Hunting."