The Town (2010)

I need your help. I can't tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later, and we're gonna hurt some people. Whose car we gonna take? This week we're heading to Charlestown for The Town (2010) — Ben Affleck's lean, brutal, impeccably crafted crime thriller that stands as the single most definitive argument for Ben Affleck as one of the most natural and instinctive directors of his generation. This is the film that made the world stop asking about Gigli and start asking when his next film was coming out. And it absolutely holds up.Co-written and directed by Affleck, adapted from Chuck Hogan's 2004 novel Prince of Thieves, the film follows Doug MacRay (Affleck) — a Charlestown bank robber, former hockey prospect, and recovering addict who is desperate for one last score before getting out — who falls unexpectedly in love with Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), the bank manager his crew took hostage during their last job, without knowing she can identify them. Jeremy Renner is James Coughlin — Doug's volatile, fiercely loyal, deeply dangerous best friend who will burn everything down rather than let Doug leave. Jon Hamm is FBI Special Agent Frawley, closing in from every angle. Blake Lively is Krista, James's sister and Doug's ex, dangerously close to the FBI's investigation. Pete Postlethwaite is Fergie, the neighborhood crime boss who owns everyone. Chris Cooper appears in a single devastating scene as Doug's incarcerated father and makes it count more than most actors do with an entire film.We're going deep on all of it: the behind-the-scenes story of a project that had been in development since 2003 under multiple directors including Adrian Lyne, who envisioned a three-and-a-half hour Scorsese-styled epic with a $90 million budget before creative differences ended his involvement, Jeremy Renner's Academy Award-nominated performance that arrived on the heels of The Hurt Locker and announced him as one of the most electrifying character actors of his generation, Ben Affleck joking that if any scene had a weak moment he could simply cut to Renner looking at a napkin and it would work, the extraordinary Fenway Park heist sequence that remains one of the great set pieces of the decade, and why this film sits comfortably alongside Heat, The Departed, and The Friends of Eddie Coyle in the pantheon of Boston crime cinema.We're asking the big questions: is The Town Ben Affleck's best film as a director — better even than Argo? Is James Coughlin one of the great supporting characters in 2000s crime cinema? And is Charlestown — as portrayed here — the most romanticized criminal neighborhood in American film history?Whether you're a Ben Affleck fan, a Jeremy Renner admirer, a Jon Hamm enthusiast, a Boston crime cinema devotee, a heist film obsessive, a lover of lean and efficient action thrillers, a Heat or Departed fan looking for something to slot right alongside them, or just someone who thinks the nun masks are the greatest bank robbery disguise in cinema history — this episode is essential.Topics covered: The Town 2010 | Ben Affleck director | Jeremy Renner | Jon Hamm | Rebecca Hall | Blake Lively | Charlestown Boston | bank heist films | best heist movies ever | best Boston crime films | The Departed comparison | Heat comparison | Gone Baby Gone comparison | Ben Affleck filmography | Jeremy Renner Oscar nomination | Argo vs The Town | Fenway Park heist | best action sequences 2010s | best crime thrillers 2000s | Chuck Hogan Prince of Thieves | Adrian Lyne almost directed | nun masks heist | best supporting performances | Chris Cooper | Pete Postlethwaite | movie review podcast | film analysis | best crime films 21st centurySubscribe, rate, and leave us a review — and settle it: is The Town Ben Affleck's best film as a director? And is the Fenway Park heist sequence the greatest set piece in any Boston crime film ever made?YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@RegularorMentholContact us: [email protected]