Ben Affleck’s ‘The Town’ Proves ‘Gone Baby Gone’ Wasn’t Beginner’s Luck

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CHICAGO – Only three years since the Chicago Film Critics Association awarded Ben Affleck as our most promising filmmaker, he’s back in the director’s seat a second time with “The Town”. While the film dramatically centers on the business of robbery in his familiar streets of Boston, Affleck importantly proves that his 2007 Oscar-nominated film “Gone Baby Gone” wasn’t just beginner’s luck.

Affleck’s success with “Gone Baby Gone” as a writer and director has not only been duplicated three years later but actually hones his ability to act. When Ben Affleck is playing the role of the filmmaker on subject matter he cares about most, we now see two examples of films that literally are made because he’s monopolizing the most important elements of their creation.

Jon Hamm as FBI special agent Adam Frawley in The Town
Jon Hamm (center) as FBI special agent Adam Frawley in the crime drama “The Town”.
Image credit: Claire Folger, Warner Bros.

Though the hardcore dramatic style of “The Town” is very similar to “Gone Baby Gone,” there’s just a small slathering of humor thrown in with calculated comic timing. But Affleck is clear his second time around that he once again wants you on the edge of your seat – guessing what’s coming next – while developing an emotional attachment to his characters. And he succeeds on all three fronts.

While Blake Lively of “Gossip Girl” fame makes a remarkable transformation into a junkie and sexual deviant, the estrogen in “The Town” is led amorously by Rebecca Hall. Just like her role in Woody Allen’s spot-on “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” she’s once again the naïve, innocent damsel who’s being pursued by the rough-around-the-edges guy in distress.

Rebecca Hall as Claire Keesey in The Town
Rebecca Hall as Claire Keesey in “The Town”.
Image credit: Claire Folger, Warner Bros.

Just as Woody Allen puts Hall’s character to a tough choice in his 2008 film (starring Javier Bardem of Oscar-winning “No Country for Old Men” fame), “The Town” asks two enormously challenging questions: Do we choose our best friend or our great love? Also, do we choose our great love or the law? “The Town” constantly makes you keenly aware of Ben Affleck’s and Rebecca Hall’s internal struggle as they seek the answers to these big questions.

While it takes Affleck 130 minutes to adapt Chuck Hogan’s novel “Prince of Thieves” and some may feel that’s too much time, you can tell this new filmmaker was absolutely aware that he’s requesting a lot of time from you. In return, this film’s editing room took seriously the role of cutting moments that drag and plot lines that don’t pay off.

Jeremy Renner as Jem Coughlin and Ben Affleck as Doug MacRay in The Town
Jeremy Renner (left) as Jem Coughlin and Ben Affleck as Doug MacRay in “The Town”.
Image credit: Warner Bros.

In “The Town,” Ben Affleck did resist casting his brother, Casey Affleck, like he did in his directorial debut of “Gone Baby Gone”. That said, he certainly couldn’t resist telling his new story in Boston where “Good Will Hunting” made him so famous.

Ben Affleck wrote “The Town” along with Peter Craig just as he wrote “Gone Baby Gone” and “Good Will Hunting”. Under the radar, Affleck did direct 1993’s “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney”.

Surprisingly, Matt Damon was nowhere to be found in “The Town” as these two broke out in Hollywood together. (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon do have an untitled collaboration they’re working on currently.)

Chris Cooper as Stephen MacRay in The Town
Chris Cooper as Stephen MacRay in “The Town”.
Image credit: Warner Bros.

While you could have seen Damon as Affleck’s best friend in this film, Jeremy Renner (the star of the 2010 Oscar-winning best picture “The Hurt Locker”) filled what could have been Damon’s shoes with true Boston authenticity, grit and believability.

Jeremy Renner as Jem Coughlin in The Town
Jeremy Renner as Jem Coughlin in “The Town”.
Image credit: Claire Folger, Warner Bros.

Similar to his feel in “The Hurt Locker,” Renner once again sold the sense that he’s a loose cannon who could explode at any given whim. His character in “The Town” can best be remembered for accepting the violent attack a group of men at Ben Affleck’s request without hesitation, without question and even with an unspoken sense of pleasure.

And Jon Hamm – the star of the Golden Globe-winning “Mad Men” – as the FBI agent who’s after Affleck’s gaggle of robbing misfits successfully transfers to you his stress and obsession for catching his prey and putting them behind federal bars.

A cameo by Chris Cooper gave him just enough spotlight to be memorable in a short few moments without wasting his appearance. A short role by Pete Postlethwaite – who is remembered for his unforgettable character Kobayashi in 1995’s “The Usual Suspects” – is perfectly cast and intelligently used for creating impact with little screen time.

Despite widespread appraise from the nation’s critics and highly likely interest by academy members of the 2011 Oscars, one word Affleck doesn’t earn from “The Town” is modesty.

We can forgive a director for casting himself into the primary role. We can forgive a director for looking like he’s posing for GQ with each camera frame. But Affleck needn’t always miss all the flying bullets and needs to allow his other actors to shine as brightly.

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When Affleck comes back for his third charm in the director’s seat of a major motion picture, we’ll need to see diversity either with more comedy, more humility or less of himself as the star. Only then will we know he’s really got what it takes for directorial stardom without the formula he’s using now that works so well.

“The Town,” which is written and directed by Ben Affleck, stars Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Chris Cooper, Pete Postlethwaite, Slaine, Owen Burke, Titus Welliver, Dennis McLaughlin, Corena Chase and Brian Scannell from writers Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard. The film, which is based on the novel “Prince of Thieves” by Chuck Hogan, is rated “R” for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use. The run time of “The Town” is 130 minutes and the film opened everywhere on Sept. 17, 2010.

HollywoodChicago.com editor-in-chief and publisher Adam Fendelman

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2010 Adam Fendelman, HollywoodChicago.com LLC

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