The Town review

Alright Sir!!! Ben Affleck pulls off with absolute ease - writing, directing and performing for The Town, and churns out an absolute gem of a film, which is memorable on a very high scale.

The Town is an ensemble of an exceptional cast, who delivers outstanding performances (especially Jeremy Renner), thanks to some brilliant direction by Ben Affleck. He leaves no stone unturned when it comes to extracting some of the finest performances of the actors' careers.
Affleck himself is outstanding with a restrained and classy performance as a bank robber who falls in love with the witness, in this absolute thrill ride. Blake Lively and Rebecca Hall are also powerful in their roles.

A flawless screenplay (fantastic character development and drama) is executed for the screen, and translated to the screen with top notch creative inputs by the entire team (actors and technicians).
The technicians and actors seem to work and deliver together in a perfectly rehearsed dance in perfect rhythm, intertwined with an emotional connection on a very high level.

The crime city Boston and personal moments between characters is captured with extremely beautiful frames, delicious tones and first class angles, and the cinematography by Robert Elswit is breathtaking and classic. Certainly a genius behind the lens, because he gives depth to all the characters, their relationships and their scenes. (Do you remember the brilliant work by him in “Michael Clayton”?) (And an Oscar win for "There Will Be Blood" and Oscar an nomination for "Good Night and Good Luck").
To aid this already edge of the seat thriller, the editing is first class, without any kind of glitches.

The background score? Wow oh wow, it’s astounding to blend perfectly with the settings, story and characters.
The highly emotional sequence of events makes you fall in love with both the good guys and bad guys. Affleck scores here, because it’s hard for a director to make audiences sympathize on both sides. His direction was most certainly no fluke.

Subtle humour plays a major role, and Affleck pulls it off with absolute finesse. The dialogues are witty and charming, with writing of the highest order.

Jeremy Renner should most definitely secure a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars this year. Failing which, the Oscars will be nothing but a bunch of political fuck ups. (Ben Affleck helped Amy Ryan score a Supporting Actress nomination for “Gone Baby Gone” in 2007). Let’s also mention the awesome screen presence this talented actor has. His performance in this film easily surpasses even last year's "The Hurt Locker".

Considering the genre of the film, the cinematography deserves accolades too at the Oscars. As does the editing. (But let’s not forget the bastards dumped Nolan for “The Dark Knight”).

High voltage action, with very smart action choreography.

It takes talent, serious talent to pull off a film on this caliber. Easily one of the best films of 2010.
Ben Affleck strikes gold again with his second directorial venture with absolute brilliance.
Another exciting director for Hollywood, worth every single million they spent on making the film.

Score - 10/10

Swarupa Pillaai