Ben's Back, Baby, Back

The Town

**** out of ****

Directed by: Ben Affleck

Starring: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner and Chris Cooper

Running time: 123 minutes

It wasn’t long ago when Ben Affleck was tabloid fodder, dismissed by critics for picking poor screenplays (Pearl Harbor, Gigli, the aptly titled Paycheck) and an easy target for gossip columnists due to his high-profile romances. Now, he’s the toast of the town with his latest film, also called The Town, where he doesn’t just prove that he’s a triple-threat talent – he is screenwriter, director and star – but a mature, accomplished filmmaker and master storyteller.

An epigraph opens the film, explaining that Charlestown (the place where our story is set) is the bank robbery capital of the world. One spectator glumly notes that bank robbers often pass down the torch of their notorious trade to the next generation.

The Town elaborates on that point. Doug MacRay (Affleck) is a second-generation criminal, with his father (Chris Cooper) in jail for life. MacRay is now making a living off holding up banks and other locales with a team of three others, including a hard-nosed firecracker, ‘Jem’ (Jeremy Renner, who went from acting alongside IEDs in The Hurt Locker to a character so intense, he's bound to explode at any minute).

MacRay and Co. rob a bank, and take its frazzled bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall) at gunpoint. MacRay decides to keep watch on her when hearing that she lives nearby. He eventually asks her out on a date, and they fall deeply in love. Meanwhile, a gruff FBI agent in the form of Don Draper himself (that would be Jon Hamm), who has been following MacRay’s gang from their inception, is on their case for a series of burglaries.

What makes this crime-centric film work astoundingly well is its sense of character and place. Affleck’s script, which he co-wrote with Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard (adapted from a pulpy Chuck Hogan novel) is concerned with the characters, their veering moral compasses and their relationships to each other amidst a town full of consequence and danger. Strong two-person scenes capture the pungent atmosphere of menace (when Affleck is on screen with Renner) and aching vulnerability (Affleck with Hall) within Charlestown.

As a director, Affleck capably generates taut, efficiently paced heist sequences and exciting getaway action. A thrilling set-piece where MacRay and company infiltrate a armoured truck and make off with the loot on bumpy, narrow sidestreets, for instance, has a kinetic energy but is edited with clarity.

We all knew Affleck could write (he garnered a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Good Will Hunting alongside good pal Matt Damon in 1998). But here, he doesn’t just compose action sequences with command and confidence. He is also an actor’s director, using the strong characterization supplied in the script to guide him in getting pitch-perfect performances (especially from Hall, Renner and a surprisingly fierce Blake Lively). For those who used to think Affleck’s career was gone, baby, gone, I’ve got news for you. He’s back, baby. Back.