Like a former high school football hero hoping to recapture his past glory by once again visiting his old school, Ben Affleck returns to his old neighborhood in South Boston. Except his old friends in The Town specialize in Bank Heists. Now you can own The Town on Blu-ray!
Ben Affleck, who co-wrote the adaptation of the excellent book, Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan, directs and coincidentally also stars as a conflicted, sensitive bank robber with child abandonment issues. Affleck plays the mastermind and architect of sophisticated capers with other Irish cohorts. His Doug Mcgrath is the cool cucumber to his best friend and partner in crime, James “Gem” Coughin, played to ruthless perfection by Jeremy Renner.
The clockwork precision of their prior capers becomes discombobulated when the gang decides to kidnap a lovely Bank manager during one of their early morning withdrawls. Rebecca Hall plays the lady in distress who is unable to give very many details about the gang when later interviewed by straight-laced F.B.I Special Agent Farley (Jon Hamm). Unfortunately, Ms. Hall was born twenty years too late and fails to succumb to the charms of Special Agent Farley (side note: if Hamm was playing Don Draper in this movie he would have seduced her in a New York Minute…and they would have to meet in the sixties). Hamm’s character is a little too straightlaced for Ms. Hall’s good girl/bad girl and things obviously don’t go well for Farley. Things get Dicey when Mcgrath decides to forgo Match.com and uses the contacts he made during the bank robbery to start dating his former kidnap victim.
The Bromance gets a little tense between Mcgrath and Gem, who is concerned that his buddy’s new squeeze might be the only person who could turn them over to the feds if the relationship doesn’t work out. The noose begins to tighten as the F.B.I. starts to close in and Mcgrath looks for a way out. Affleck creates a slice of Boston where friendship and old ties mean something. One particular highlight of the movie includes a scene with the always entertaining Chris Cooper, giving fatherly advice to Affleck character that provides some hard truths and bitter insight.
McGrath’s Five O’clock shadow also foreshadows the darker events looming ahead, the caper scenes are well executed and everyone seems to have a good time with their Irish Brogues. The late Pete Postlethwaite conveys enough authenticity playing the “Florist”, as a guy who seems to have a real “killer” green thumb.
Unfortunately, Affleck is going to have to leave the old neighborhood and venture out into the real world. It may be awkward bumping into old girlfriends who have moved on, but as comfortable and confident as he is in recreating this milieu, he needs to shake off the failures of the past and begin to finally achieve the potential that he and his other best friend, Matt Damon, demonstrated in Good Will Hunting.
Special Features:
-Theatrical Version
-Extended Cut with footage not seen in theaters.
-Commentary on both versions by Ben Affleck
-Digital Copy of Theatrical Version
-DVD Copy of Theatrical Version
-Ben’s Boston- Ben takes the audience behind the scenes of The Town in “The Cathedral of Boston”, “Nuns with Guns”, and “Filming in the North End”
-Pulling off the Perfect Heist Featurette
-1080p
-DTS-HD Master Audio
Overall:
Hopefully, as technically proficient as The Town is, it will be remembered as the movie where Affleck finally broke out of his comfort zone. He has licked his wounds while also learning important lessons both behind and in front of the camera to get him out of Boston and back onto the world stage.
The Town is a taut old time thriller that finally provides some of the retribution that should have been exacted against most of the banks for their behavior leading up to the worst economic meltdown since the great depression.
ComicsOnline gives The Town on Blu-ray 4 out of 5 films set in Boston.
Get your copy of The Town on Blu-ray at Amazon.
Stay tuned to ComicsOnline for everything geek pop culture!
