14 DAY TRIAL // Ben Affleck is making a comeback to the silver screen with “The Town,” which he directed and stars in. More than that, Affleck is also getting critics talking about the film’s Oscar potential.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival the other day and, perhaps not surprising, is already getting impressively positive reviews, with Entertainment Weekly even saying it stands great chances of being a strong Oscar contender.
Reviewers say “The Town” is both superbly made and boasting memorable performances by all the members of the cast, but specifically Jon Hamm as an FBI agent and Jeremy Renner as a twisted criminal.
ScreenCrave summed up most early reviews of the film and, by the looks of them, Affleck has a sure winner on his hands, both on the awards circuit and with audiences.
“This new soulful shoot-em-up, ‘The Town,’ plays it straighter than a pool cue, offering the sort of solid, proficiently written cops ‘n’ robbers yarn that is the stuff of a thousand ‘Bluffer’s Guide to Moviemaking’ tomes,” Time Out London says of the story.
While the story in the film may be too by the book to impress all moviegoers, the way in which it’s told, the characters that populate it and how Affleck makes it come to life surely do so.
“Ben Affleck is, at heart, an extremely conventional storyteller. Largely successful, impressively acted, impeccably shot by Robert ‘There Will Be Blood’ Elswit, and it tells its story with an impressive eye for what makes Boston special,” HitFix writes.
“I love filmmaking about a specific place, where your location is a character just like anyone onscreen, and Affleck’s Boston is impressively rendered as a real place,” the review reads.
Other characters that moviegoers will probably take with them after watching “The Town,” aside from Boston, are Jeremy Renner’s loose-cannon criminal and Jon Hamm’s righteous FBI agent.
Overall, even with its flaws, “The Town” proves Ben Affleck was not born to be a one-hit director, bringing to life a gritty story punctuated by sarcasm and amazing action scenes.
“The film, which allows its flawed hero an ending he perhaps doesn’t deserve, has a good mix of moments recalling a Bostonian version of The Wire and the car chases and gun fights of more orthodox thrillers. It should help Affleck on his way as an actor/director of some note,” This Is London writes.
“The Town” is out in US theaters on September 17. Below is a trailer for it, enjoy.