Director: Ben Affleck
Writers: Based on the novel Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan. Screenplay: Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard
Released: 2010
Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite and Chris Cooper
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Not to be confused with The Village…
I think this movie has everything in it – a compelling love story, fantastic action scenes and Ben Affleck *swoon*. You also can’t go wrong with a rough Boston accent either!
A story about a town in Boston named Charlestown. Where, for some, bank robbery is a way of life and treated as an art handed down through the generations.
In the first robbery of the film, a masked Doug (Ben Affleck) is calming Claire (Rebecca Hall) who is franticly opening the safe, while the rest of the robbers intimidate the hostages.
A few days after the robbery, Doug ‘bumps into’ the woman to see how much she knows about the robbers and what she’s told the police. Which, I thought was a super cool part of the film. By getting close with one of the few witnesses Doug had the inside scoop of how far off the police were.
Anyway, she basically falls in love with Doug – who, little does she know, was responsible for one of the most traumatic experiences of her life.
I like movies where you’re on the side of the ‘badies’. Kind of like in Gone Girl where I found myself rooting for the mad killer. It was the same as in this film – I was backing the robbers the whole time. but what The Town did differently was that they went a step further and villainised the ‘goodies’ – the police.
It’s a thorough insight into a vastly different culture. The robbers are brutal, tough, but incredibly loyal toward each other.
Doug: I need you to do something with me. I can’t tell you why, you can’t ask me about it after and we’re gonna hurt people.”
Jem: Whose car we gonna take?
God, but bloody Affleck. Being the main character, director and one of the writers, OF COURSE he had to write himself a saucy love scene. Boys, eh!
Lovable, exciting – yet violent – characters, a believable love story with fantastic action sequences between uplifting scenes. A cool twist to the average cold, stale bank robbing film. I like how, although it is scary and violent and intense, it’s still personable and emotional.
Jodie’s rating: 8.5/10
NZ Film Freak 