I know, I'm a little tardy on this one, but life has been a bit hectic of late. I've defended Ben Affleck the actor for years, pointing out his good-to-great work in films like Changing Lanes (his best performance), State of Play, Boiler Room, and the director's cut of Daredevil. But his directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, needs no defense, as it is one of the very best directorial debuts by a name actor in my lifetime. So, ironically, despite years being mocked as an actor, director Ben Affleck is being treated like royalty, with his next project considered one of the must-see events of the fall movie season. The Town certainly looks like a rock-solid genre picture. The cast (Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper), is sparkling, while the action scenes look engaging and intense. So why don't I feel more excited about it? Well, frankly, the story (about a bank robber who romances a traumatized hostage from a prior heist) feels a bit contrived. The second half of the trailer seems to degenerate into yet another 'but he cries at opera' type fantasy, where a murderous bank robber is really an okay guy because he tries to protect his new girlfriend from his criminal cohorts. I'll be the first to admit error if the film is less cliche than Warner's sell is indicating, but for now this gets a big, fat 'we'll see...'.
Scott Mendelson
Scott Mendelson
3 comments:
I like how the trailer just says "From the director of Gone Baby Gone." Ummm, you mean, Ben Affleck? Are they afraid of attaching his name to the director credit?
Yeah, you have a point. While the film geeks/critical community know as much, I'm betting the average movie goer A) didn't even see Gone Baby Gone and B) have no idea that Ben Affleck directed it.
Yeah, you have a point. While the film geeks/critical community know as much, I'm betting the average movie goer A) didn't even see Gone Baby Gone and B) have no idea that Ben Affleck directed it.
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