The Town
Release Date:
September 17, 2010
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 3/190 |
Max Braden |
This is a good double header to Heat. 2020 rereview: still great every time I catch it on cable. |
| 9/123 |
David Mumpower |
I was hooked inside of a minute. From beginning to end, this is exactly my type of heist film. The late Pete Postlethwaite is particularly noteworthy as the local kingpin. |
Ben Affleck has been spending a fair amount of time behind the camera recently and proved to be quite an accomplished director with his directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone. He is following up with another adaptation, this time with Chuck Hogan’s novel Prince of Thieves. As well as directing, he’s also the main star, Doug MacRay.
Doug makes his living as a thief. Given the economic crises, I don’t blame him. The next job he has planned is to rob a bank, along with his friends Jem (Jeremy Renner) and Gloansy (Slaine). However, Doug doesn’t count on falling in love with the bank manager Claire (Rebecca Hall). They begin seeing each other, with Claire totally clueless as to who Doug really is. To make matters more complex, FBI agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) is investigating the robbery, and also happens to be infatuated with Claire.
The original novel, Prince of Thieves, received the 2004 Hammett Prize for crime writing, and was even listed as one of Stephen King’s favorite books that year.
Hogan had written a very early version of the screenplay for the film along with Peter Craig, though Affleck and the Oscar nominated Sheldon Turner have since done a rewrite. The title has been changed in case some people manage to mistake this for a Robin Hood sequel.
There’s a fair amount of action in store, with talk of a blistering shootout at Boston’s Fenway Park, though the marketing will probably focus heavily on the caliber of the actors involved - notably Jeremy Renner, who has become hot after his turn in The Hurt Locker, and Rebecca Hall, who is hot generally, but more so after her turn in Vicky Christina Barcelona. All this should be enough to trump the $20 million that Gone Baby Gone took at the box office. (Shalimar Sahota/BOP)
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