The Town

As directed by Ben Affleck, The Town has plenty of slam-bang action, but the most striking stuff in the film comes via the various dramatic triangles that spin off of the disconnects between the budding romance of bank robber Doug MacCray (Affleck) with bank-teller Claire (Rebecca Hall) and his princely code of honor among thieves. A complexly suspenseful little scene in which fellow thief Jem (Jeremy Renner) confronts Doug and Claire—with sly, casual menace at a sidewalk café—may be the best observed and most dramatically fraught moment in the entire film. But there are plenty of other triangular mini-dramas in play—Jem’s drug-addict sister Krista (Blake Lively) hasn’t entirely relinquished her ties to Doug and she is the focal point of one of the ventures of FBI agent Frawley (Jon Hamm) into the Charlestown demi-monde; Doug’s relations with his significant elders—the broken man who is his imprisoned father (Chris Cooper) and Pete Postlethwaite’s seedy, evil florist/crime boss—loom large in the overall action as well. Feather River Cinemas, Paradise Cinema 7 and Tinseltown. Rated R