Ben Affleck does a surprisingly good job as an actor and the director of The Town. I've come not to expect too much from him. It's a solid crime movie with plenty of suspense and action and good performances all around - who knew?

The story is about a town called Charlestown which is famous for being the birthplace of the largest number of robbers in the entire USA. This place spawns criminals like crazy. Ben Affleck is one of them, although he is the gentleman gangster, never killed someone, only has robbed some banks. The latest heist goes awry however and a guard is shot down. The police goes beserk and does everything in its power to apprehend the criminals at large. Will Ben Affleck succeed in pulling off the biggest heist without getting busted?Movies got to be sold to the masses and I cant think of another reason that in most heist movies there always has to be a romantic story in order to lure the female audiences into buying a ticket. Can't image any guy wanting to see a romance in a tough heist movie. I dont have anything against romances, not even in heist movies, as long as the romantic story is credible. And it was NOT.The somewhat flawed romantic story is about Ben Affleck, playing a bankrobber, who starts flirting with a female bankmanager of the place that he just robbed. That's just a lot of Hollywood romantic crap. The writer only puts something THIS much unbelievable in the story to sell tickets for females, who wanna drool over Ben Affleck. Females wont mind, guys probably will get anoyed by it somewhat.The rest of this movie is good though. Very good. The heist part of this movie is really tough and suspenseful. Coming close in true to life portrayal of gangster life in classics like "Heat" with Robert de Niro and Al Pacino and "Training Day", with Denzel Washington. These realistic supsenseful heist action scenes are what make this movie standout above the average heist movie. Acting in it is very very good. From leading characters (Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner) to some of the supporting actors, acting is on a level that really made me believe in the gangsters world that was portrayed in "The Town".Sum total of this movie is pretty impressive, despite some flaws in the romantic story. If you just wanna see an entertaining action movie, then this hollywood formula film will certainly entertain. And there are some nice twists near the end that make this story surprising and very suspenseful. Too bad about the flawed romantic story, because the rest of this heist movie is really great.

This was absolutely exceptional. That's all you really need to know.

When I had first heard about The Town, I thought it offered something a bit zealous; yet when I actually watched it, I was a little disappointed in that it did not meet the expectations I had for it. This is not to say the film is bad, by no means, but rather I felt it was a little 'half-baked' as a final product or a little rushed. It has been received fairly well among critics and audiences alike so for me to consider this film bad would mean I am contesting the majority of people who did in fact think this was a well-made film. So instead, perhaps this review should begin in this sense: a good film but with some issues - to put it lightly. The plot and narrative of The Town is driven by Douglas "Doug" MacRay played by Ben Affleck who is the 'mastermind' behind a series of bank robberies at which he engages in with his life-long friends. During the course of the film, we get to know Doug as someone who is looking to 'get out' of his current situation and live a normal life. He becomes infatuated with the manager of the bank of his previous heist, Claire Keesey played by Rebecca Hall, and begins his journey out while trying to not do any harm to anyone in his path. On the outset, The Town offers an engaging action-crime film that certainly elevates Ben Affleck as a capable director in this field. Gong Baby Gong, his directional debut, shows he has kept within the safety of the crime genre but The Town delivers the action and demonstrates Affleck is capable of going further. What troubled me is the issue around characterisation. I felt this was poorly executed where Doug's past around his mother, father and his supposed child with his ex-girlfriend simply did not match up and in turn I did not feel I could engage with his character. After a quick conversation with the manager, he sets off to find more about his mother whom was never found when she disappeared. His bad childhood is established but it is not enough to engage and sympathise with a character whose troubled life and bad past is not fulfilled with enough information for the viewer to grasp and hold on to. It almost seems that it was thrown-in as opposed to something that develops and over time naturally in the film world. Instead we learn of his character at random which therefore gives this out-of-place feeling. Besides Doug's character, this issue is also seen with James "Jem" Coughlin played by Jeremy Renner, where when asked why he does not get out of his situation, he replies "This is all i know". I guess the effect of this was a dramatic and emotional one, yet I felt a level of involuntary cringe that immediately prevented me from liking his character further. This is due to this idea that his situation is inescapable and ultimately his ending (as it turns out to be) and foreshadows his death. Maybe I expected the foreshadowing of his death with a little more punch instead of that typical 'all I know' gaff. If we also take a look at Special Agent Adam Frawley played by Jon Hamm, there appears (or perhaps not) to be a rivalry between him and Doug. Little is known about him and his motifs or background; this ultimately, in my opinion, let The Town down when the Agent was clearly an important character in the film. Even the manager's difficultly in coping with the aftermath of her short ordeal is only demonstrated in one scene in the Laundromat; thereafter she appears to have been 'cured' by Ben Affleck's romantic persona - where ever that came from. But why have the characters loosely established? It could be possible that it was intentional; adding to the mysteriousness about Charleston that is further echoed by its residents. But with this, there is a lack of engagement with the characters and thus falls short of being a film worthy of any awards.While I am very critical of the characterisation of The Town, I do not consider it to be a bad film. It delivered the action, the crime and strong narrative that will keep the action-goers happy. Yet the characterisation is rooted with issues that if needed, could be further dismantled and a harsher review would suffice.