Share and Follow
Renowned horror author Stephen King once praised the Ben Affleck-directed movie “The Town,” a neo-noir crime thriller set in Boston and released in 2010. In a year-end review for Entertainment Weekly, King named it his second favorite film of that year, even ranking it higher than other celebrated films like “Inception” and “The Social Network.” King remarked, “Bad title, fantastic movie,” adding that Affleck has a unique understanding of Boston’s gritty and somber underworld.
Warner Bros.
The movie, directed, co-written, and starring Affleck, focuses on a gang of bank robbers from Boston’s Charlestown area, also known as The Town. The plot thickens when the group’s leader, played by Affleck, falls in love with a bank manager, portrayed by Rebecca Hall, whom they initially kidnapped to discover what she might have revealed to the FBI. This romantic entanglement begins to fracture their close-knit crew, leading to a high-stakes, final heist.
King described the film as “strangely intimate” despite its explosive conclusion, noting, “For a movie that ends with a gaudy blast of gunfire, it’s a strangely intimate film. The situation that drives the plot (professional bank thief falls in love with hostage) is simultaneously sweet and weirdly kinky.”
Transitioning from acting to directing is often challenging, yet Ben Affleck managed to excel in both roles during this period. His work on “The Town” came after his successful 2007 directorial debut “Gone Baby Gone” and before the 2012 Oscar-winning “Argo.” This film marked a significant period of productivity and acclaim for Affleck as a director.
With a production budget of $37 million, “The Town” grossed $154 million worldwide and received several award nominations, including an Academy Award nod for Jeremy Renner as Best Supporting Actor. Its enduring appeal in the heist genre is evident with a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, cementing its status as a modern classic.
The Town came out at a high point in Affleck’s career
Warner Bros.
The switch from acting to directing can be a tricky one to navigate, but, for a time at least, Ben Affleck certainly made the transition work in his favor. “The Town” was released in between Affleck’s critically acclaimed 2007 directorial debut “Gone Baby Gone” and his 2012 best picture-winning political espionage thriller “Argo,” solidifying a particularly prolific time in the actor-turned-director’s career.
The film raked in $154 million worldwide on a $37 million budget and was nominated for multiple awards, including a best supporting actor nod for Renner at the Academy Awards. The movie still holds up in the realm of gritty heist films, with its 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes ushering it into modern-classic territory.
Aside from “Argo,” Affleck has only directed two other films since “The Town” as of this writing. However, neither the 2016 prohibition-era set “Live By Night” nor 2023’s “Air,” which delved into the origins of Nike’s Air Jordan shoe line, drummed up the same level of excitement as his previous directorial endeavors.
