The Town | Consistently Cinematic - 46/365

Plot****

Cinematography ***

Score/Soundtrack***

Character Development*****

Timelessness****

Originality*****

The Pitch

4 brother-like friends make up one of Boston’s best bank robbing gangs and they all come from the infamous neighborhood of Charlestown. When one of them falls for the clerk they kidnap following a job, the walls start to close in faster than ever before.?

The Gist

Doug MacRay(Affleck) was the bright spot in his neighborhood, right up until the point he get kicked out of professional hockey. After a stint of drug use and misfortune, he found himself back in Charlestown, ready to join the family business of armed robbery. His best friend and second in command, James Coughlin(Renner), never saw a life outside of what they grew up around and it shows the most when they’re on the job. When Couglin kidnaps a bank teller as an insurance policy, MacRay urges that they let her go but has his own ulterior motives. As the two grow closer, the FBI agent(Hamm) tasked with stopping them finally finds leverage and uses it to his full advantage.?

The Breakdown

“Whose car we gonna take?” is an all time movie line. Not quite up there with “Say Hello to my little friend!!!” or “Ain’t nobody coming to see you Otis” but still, it’s a classic. That line in response to MacRay’s question summed up the character of Coughlin as a whole. I honestly think this was the formula for the entire movie, and rather or not it was on purpose, it worked. What I’m talking about is the movie’s ability to keep shit simple.?

Now this came out in 2008, right before CGI took over EVERYTHING,?so it was under appreciated back then. But if you were to watch it now, you would see that its proof of the quantum leap we took in the 2010’s. To request a bank robbing film, with strictly human issues, shot on location WITHOUT an over the top twist at the end would be like asking for a dvd player for Christmas. Seriously, this movie came down to a solid, practical plot and a lot of great acting. Boston repping Boston as only Boston could, The Town is a classic and one of millennials flagship crime films for a good reason.