“The Town” is Beantown’s Version of “Heat”

Ben Affleck’s Boston-based crime thriller “The Town” shares a lot of common ground with Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat.”  Their first and foremost similarity is that they focus on anti-heroes.  The stories concentrate on a set of bank robbers and the cops that chase after them, but they pay more attention to the crooks than the law.    Secondly, each one has a criminal who is trying to abandon his profession to pursue love;  however he can’t leave the life until he collects one large final score.

Throughout the movies, the characters’ dilemma becomes whether risking their lives outweighs the rewards of their potential payday.  In both cases, the police and the outlaws are also well aware of each other’s identities, which makes their strife more personal.  This struggle becomes a cat and mouse game, as the bad guys try to stay one step ahead of the authorities, to escape with the money.

Despite some obvious similarities to “Heat” though, Affleck manages to spin this tale about robbers from the working-class neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts into a compelling movie.  His focus on the people from this community is what propels the story.  Affleck plays the lead role of Doug MacRay, a washed up hockey player who works for the local crime boss Fergie (a stoic Pete Postlethwaite), reluctantly doing bank jobs with a crew from his neighborhood.  MacRay has grown weary of life on the run, especially as his safety becomes more questionable with each heist.  This is because his partner James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner) grows increasingly bold and unpredictable.  Doug grapples with the loyalty he feels for James though since they are childhood friends.

Things become even more complicated for Doug when his crew is forced to take a bank manager (Rebecca Hall) hostage during one of their robberies.  She is unaware of their identities, but Doug falls for her, so he tracks her down and pursues a relationship with her.  When he decides to leave his life of crime for this woman, he experiences problems breaking free from his crew and his obligations to Fergie.  Unbeknownst to our anti-heroes, the FBI has been tracking their crime spree for months attempting to determine who they are.   As the gang takes on increasing stress, the FBI, lead by Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm), begins to close in on them.  Doug is forced to take on one last job in the hopes that he and his friends can safely escape the FBI’s clutches.

As a director, Affleck does an excellent job of establishing the frantic nature of the bank heists through his quick pacing.  You feel locked into the anxiety of those moments, praying that everything happens in perfect timing with the plan.  Quality performances from Jeremy Renner as the mad dog James Coughlin and the quietly diabolical Pete Postlethwaite adequately fill the space between gunfire and explosions.

Affleck’s “The Town” is Beantown’s version of “Heat,” because it shares several common traits with the 1995 film.  There are frantic bank heists, memorable characters, and a classic cat and mouse rivalry between the crooks and the FBI agent just like in “Heat.”  What makes “The Town” stand apart from it though is its focus on working-class criminals from Charlestown.  These men are just trying to scrape by the only way they know how.  Being a criminal isn’t so much a choice as it is a way of life for the poor guys in our story.

My Grade: B+