Ben Affleck Proves his Directorial Skill in ‘Town’ Heist Flick

Perhaps one of the most popular action-drama subgenres is the robbery motif. Since the birth of the silver screen, moviegoers have been enthralled and strangely fascinated by grand thefts and intricate heist schemes.

Despite whether that’s indicative of a larger societal symptom, good heist flicks tend to have a few key ingredients—coordinated team of robbers, a grand plan, attractive women, fancy car chase scenes, and frequently the dichotic appeal for the audience to empathize and root for both the bad guys and the good guys chasing them.

In Affleck’s second directorial project, The Town, the traditional robbery plotline is enhanced with a few additional ingredients—accepting your life as it’s been shaped by previous generations versus breaking out of it, choosing between family and morality, and love versus self-preservation.

Based on Chuck Hogan’s novel Prince of Thieves, which is centered on Charlestown, a one-mile-square neighborhood in Boston that is notorious for breeding the most bank robbers in the States. Affleck himself plays the leading character, Doug MacRay, head of an organized heist team, who is struggling between loyalty to his friends and breaking out of his sinful lifestyle. We learn that his mother left when he was six and his father (portrayed brilliantly by Chris Cooper) is paying for his life of crime in a maximum-security prison.

After Doug and his team rob Cambridge Merchant Bank and take bank manager Claire Keesey hostage, an unlikely romance develops between Doug and the unsuspecting Claire. For him, she represents the person he wants to become, the change he so desperately seeks. But will she end up compromising Doug and his team? Will she stay with him if she finds out about his true profession?

Luckily, the answers to these questions are dwarfed in significance by the larger multi-dimensional tensions at play, which ultimately elevate what might have otherwise been a cliche heist story up to one with depth, heart, and soul.

Affleck shines, both as a director and actor, in one of his most impressive portrayals to date. Rising star Jeremy Renner proves that he’s here to stay in his nuanced performance as MacCay’s lifelong friend Jem. And let’s not forget the dashingly handsome “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm, who delights as fast-talking, witty FBI agent Frawley.

“Gossip Girl” star Blake Lively’s portrayal of drug-addicted single mom turned drug mule Krista was disturbingly convincing. Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite round out the strong cast, lending their extraordinary talents in the roles of MacRay senior and crime lord Fergie.

If you’re looking for a suspenseful drama with action and decent character development, The Town will hit the spot.