The Town (2010)

First let's start by saying the obvious.  What a horrible title.  I mean, come on Ben, The Town?  That's the best you could come up with?  The Town.  What's especially awful about it is that it's based on a Chuck Hogan book called Prince of Thieves.  True, that's not much of a better title.  They probably assumed people would get it confused with a Robin Hood movie made like a millions years ago.   Still, why not The Prince of Charlestown.   Even just, Charlestown, would have been better than The Town. 

Ben Affleck directs and stars in a movie about a bank robber mastermind who falls for the woman his crew needed to use as a hostage.  With slick direction and inspiration derived from other robbery movies like Heat, Affleck does an excellent job taking an good script and disguising it as a Oscar caliber film.  Not that I believe it's really Oscar caliber, but it looks like it doesn't it?  Rebecca Hall plays his love interest and she's wonderful as are the performances of Jeremy Renner and Pete Posltethwaite (in his final film).  It will be interesting  to see how well this movie does in the award show carousel.   Will this thief with a heart of gold storyline con everyone into getting their vote or will it fade from voters memories.   Basically this is a solid entertainment that's produced at a high quality.   If you like movies like Heat or Point Break than you'll probably love this movie.  If you want more depth and believability in your crime dramas you might want to set your standards down before watching.  This is not The Departed.  Grade: B+

Spoilers:  I didn't hate the end but I didn't feel it was the right ending.  It was just too awkward knowing that he got away (even without the money).   I didn't really buy it.  I felt like he needed to be caught or at least lose something at the end beside the woman he loved.   He needed to make an even greater sacrifice than to spend his last days living in a paradise Floridian wilderness.  I also thought it was ridiculous that he left her the money and she donated it.  The feds would never have let that happen.