The Town

I am running out of movies lately and bumping against old movies to spend the little spare time I get after a hectic day. But watching the same movies repeatedly makes them bitter, and gradually I lose interest in keeping them on my favourite list. Thank god, I can browse the internet to hunt for a good movie, no matter how old it is. And this time, it happens to be The Town which premiered back in 2010.

Ben Affleck— I don’t usually like him. Not for his acting, I admit he is a talented actor, but his way of speaking is my concern. I feel like his gesture during speaking is not natural; he is hiding something or it could be it’s his natural way of speaking. If you are familiar with Salman Khan; the Indian mega actor, his facial expression is kind of weird— as if some of the words remain inside the mouth and the rest is spoken. The same applies to Ben.

Whatever, despite him being my not-so-fascinating actor, The Town was a good watch. The crime thriller about the bank robbery and romanticism blends well with the story and actions from time to time. Although I expected more gun shootings, big explosions, and a swarm of SWAT raiding the entire neighbourhood, none of that happened except for the strategic execution of every robbery operation they planned earlier. And I feel like they are justified as the outside world is too busy with their own business to mind a bank getting robbed inside.

But every successful robbery increases the heat signal, forcing law enforcement officials to track and take down the gang. Unfortunately, they live in a distant place, commonly known as the capital of US crime— so, they had to approach strategically. And this is where the movie becomes more suspenseful as both the criminals and law officers are being strategic to encounter each other with minimum damage or alarm raised.

As stated earlier, love is in the air amidst this turmoil— a very unusual relationship between two characters from different poles of their morality and ethics. But love is blind, and as the identity remains hidden, love flows. A deep sensation of depending on another grows, eventually being torn apart by the shadow of morality— a poison that numbs the excitement the couples felt even a moment ago is not distorted by the sense of ethics and duties towards a greater cause. To sum up, the movie successfully sold the idea of love during the toughest time for the characters when they were battling with their inner guilt and disappointment.

However, the ending was unexpected. The way our male protagonist played against the law, I developed this sense that he would make it more twisting, and perhaps the movie would close the screen unfinished, pointing to another episode. But it ended with the destiny every criminal bears with, a vicious gunfight and— well, see it yourself.

The most fascinating thing about the movie is the way it has illustrated the central characters, leaving us to judge. But having no clear criteria to conduct the judgment, leaves me with ambiguity where ethical superiority argues with the idea of love, compassion, and sacrifice.

Overall, it was a good watch, I must confess.

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