“Not Pretty, but Good and Exciting”

THE TOWN is the second film that Ben Affleck has directed, and he also stars in it along with Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite, and Chris Cooper.

The story takes place in modern-day Charlestown, a square-mile rough neighborhood near Boston known for its criminals and unsolved murders, and sometimes the actors’ accents are so thick that it is difficult to understand what they are saying.

The film opens with a bank robbery, the four robbers all wearing skull masks, and they take the pretty bank manager hostage with them in their escape.

When they release Claire, the robbers take her driver’s license and tell her that if she talks to the FBI, they know where she lives and they will come to her home, rape her, and kill her.

Naturally, Claire has to talk to FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley, and while she is being questioned, she asks, “Should I have a lawyer here?”

Frawley tells Claire that anyone who lawyers up during questioning is usually guilty, and because Claire doesn’t want to be involved any more than she already is, she doesn’t tell Frawley one piece of information about the robbers that she observed.

Meanwhile, the leader of the robbers, Doug MacRay, follows Claire, meets her “accidentally,” they start talking, and he takes her out for a drink. She doesn’t know who Doug really is, they start dating, and at one point Claire tells Doug the information that she withheld from the FBI.

Claire tells Doug that on really sunny days, she always thinks of someone dying, because her younger brother died on such a day, which will play an important part in a later scene in the film.

Doug is planning another big robbery, but he tells his partner and childhood friend, Jim, and the rest of the team that it will be their last job, after which they will just hit bars.

This time the team all wear nun’s masks, and the getaway chase through the streets of Boston is exciting, especially when a bridge shows up.

Of course, whenever crime is involved, nothing ever goes on as planned.

THE TOWN is not pretty, but it sure is good, exciting entertainment, it’s dedicated to the good people of Charlestown, but made about the “bad” people, and I sure am glad it was.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”