The Town vs Brothers

The Town, the new movie directed by Ben Affleck, probably isn’t as good as his debut, Gone Baby Gone, and that means that, for Affleck, it’s even better.

We clear on that? Make sense? Cool. See ya!

I mean: Ben Affleck was not in the most enviable place, career-wise, prior to directing his first film, so it had to be impeccable, or the critics would have eaten him alive. It was, so they didn’t. Following Gone Baby Gone with anything but a great movie is bad news, but a lot of actor/directors, like Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson, think they have to go bigger, more epic and extravagant, and are just as likely to end up with movies that are overdone and bloated.

Affleck, good for him, is following the Clint Eastwood model of hyphenating. He’s directing movies because he found a story he wants to tell. More importantly, he’s good at it. Affleck keeps The Town moving—it’s edited to economize the plot, not to make it flashier or quicker—and focuses on story and character, even when the action and tension are ratcheted up high enough to warrant gratuitousness. 

The town in question is Boston. A tag at the beginning tells us that Boston is the bank-robbery capital of the country. Is it? I guess it must be, right? The Town isn’t a story of the history of bank-robbing in Boston, so I’m not sure that bit of trivia matters. Affleck plays Doug MacKray, the level-headed leader of a gang that includes his best friend James (Jeremy Renner). James is more  greedy, impulsive and hot-tempered. I’m sure equal arguments could be made for him being smarter and dumber than Doug. James is devious, for sure, but it’s hard to tell if it’s based in self-preservation or sociopathy. Six of one? All movies with a heist gang have a character like James. He’s like the Joker (or, you know, Queen Latifah), not letting a little thing like a body count get in the way of his thrills. It’s different for Doug. Every bank job is a means to an end. He wants to move away, to Florida, and start over. I’m not sure he’s going to go straight once he’s there, but I’m guessing he’ll at least stop robbing banks. 

As The Town opens, Doug and his crew (which also includes Desmond and Gloansey, who are played by, I’m just gonna go ahead and say it: two real life bank robbers. Maybe.) are taking down a bank in a practical, systematic way. There’s nothing genius happening (they put the security camera tapes in a microwave), but Doug and his crew don’t miss a step, until someone hits a silent alarm, and they feel forced to take a hostage, the bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall).

They keep her blindfolded, but after she’s let go, Doug volunteers to keep an eye on Claire. They’re worried she might know something, or might tell the feds she’s seen something. James wants to kill her, but Doug insists he has it under control. He arranges a meeting, and after a careful, cute conversation, Doug and Claire become friends, and then, of course, more. Here’s where Affleck really sold me. Many movies, good and bad, have dropped conflicts like this into movies, and we go with it, simply because we love movies and fake shit happens in movies, and what are you gonna do, stop watching movies? Affleck side-steps this in about half a scene by having Claire tell Doug about the bank robbery. By making their relationship about one liar instead of two, and by dodging the near-misses and accusations (except one well-done scene with Claire and James), Affleck takes a script-driven situation and makes it seem true. Doug even makes Claire sort of a side project for his gang. In a scene of uncommon menace and black humor, Doug and James beat the living crap out of some guys who maybe—maybe!—gave Claire some trouble in the neighborhood.

As Doug and Claire grow closer, the danger of him being caught and going to prison becomes more palpable. Jon Hamm plays the leader of an FBI team tracking Doug’s gang. In a nod to movies like A Perfect World and Inside Man, Hamm is allowed intelligence and dignity of his own, allowing us to root for the good guys and the bad good guys simultaneously. If you’re looking for a villain, however, Pete Postlethwaite is terrifying as Doug’s boss, who runs a flower shop as a front for his many criminal activities. And because he likes flowers, I guess. Doug is less committed and less confident with each score, wanting to come clean to Claire and take her away from Boston.

This is crisp movie-making. A couple movies in and already it’s apparent that, like Eastwood, Affleck’s signature is his no-bullshit approach. The camera goes where the camera goes, the actors act, the story unfolds. Maybe his biggest accomplishment is that Affleck directs himself to the most assured, believable character of his career. Affleck is in most of the movie, and holds his own—stands out, really—whether with Hamm, Renner or Blake Lively, as Doug’s strung-out ex. But, the best performance in The Town belongs to Rebecca Hall. After Please Give, Frost/Nixon and Vicky Christina Barcelona, Rebecca Hall has become one of my favorite actresses. She makes a quick, quiet impact every time she’s on screen in The Town. Claire is the most virtuous, and likely the smartest, character, but she also has to be the one being duped by the main characters (the good guys and the good bad guys alike). Hall keeps Claire’s dignity intact, even when we wish she’d ask just one more question, or make just one more phone call.

With its split of heroes and anti-heroes, with a vulnerable female witness caught in the middle, The Town reminded me of L.A. Confidential. There’s something so grand and arch about that movie, though, that its tone and that of The Town would feel like responses to each other, or worse, critique. Instead, I recommend following The Town with Brothers, which has a surprisingly similar feel, only with the wounded characters keeping most of the violence internal.

Natalie Portman has the Rebecca Hall character. She plays the meaningfully named Grace, a mother of two cute girls. Their father is Sam (Tobey Maguire), who we’re led to believe was a good guy before being sent to war and killed. Except not. He’s alive, a tortured war prisoner. 

In the meantime, a numb Grace is getting support from Sam’s parents (Sam Shepard and Mare Winningham) and his brother, Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal). Tommy is trouble, complete with tattoos, a criminal past, and no respect from his father. He’s a drunk, and has shady friends, but helps Grace by being himself and allowing her to feel the things she’s avoiding through grief. He fixes up her kitchen, plays with her kids, makes her laugh. Tommy and Grace aren’t a traditional movie couple, but only because of circumstance. If he’d robbed her bank, they’d totally be doing it. 

Sam comes home, all skinny and PTSD and furious. Tobey Maguire delivers, man. If the black suit Spider-man had been written and performed this smartly, we’d be gearing up for part four instead of a reboot. The acting in Brothers, like The Town, is no-frills and stellar across-the-board, with Rebecca Hall honors going to Natalie Portman, who makes Grace’s transitions from open to closed with ease. 

Brothers was directed by one of my favorites, Jim Sheridan.  His stamp is all over the movie, with the stark winter, the lived-in sets, and the natural child actors. Unfortunately, the conflict, which is possibly not fixable at all, and definitely isn’t during the length of a movie, is given kind of a pat resolution, complete with comforting narration. That’s too bad. For 90% of Brothers, we feel these characters, believe that their unlikely situation could be true. That Ben Affleck is a director others could learn from is bound to make him one happy guy. 

Don’t get smug, kid. Clint Eastwood just directed his thirty-fourth movie.

The Town: A-

Brothers: B