The Town may not have been Gone Baby Gone but it DEFINITELY was not We Own the Night. If you want to hate on a half-ass attempt at the standard townie/love story/shoot ‘em up film, print a small copy of the We Own the Night movie poster, pin it to a cork board and hurl darts at it. Blindfolded. No disrespect to our other Boston boy Mark Wahlberg but congrats to Ben (Congraffleck?). You owned last Friday night by avoiding a We Own The Night remake, 02129-style. This fehkin' guy!
I’ll get my gripes out of the way up front. Baffleck, here’s the deal: too much yelling and frankly, too much you, which meant not enough Renner and Hamm (JRenner? Jamm? …mmmNO!). Speaking of Hamm, did anyone get the sense he was holding back? Perhaps he was saving his breakout big screen ammo for a story set west of the Hudson River? I’m in absolute denial that this is the best we’re going to get from Hamm and giving him the benefit of the doubt; he left something on the field this go-around.
Next up Ben Whoffleck (Mango? No? fine.) just a simple request for your next outing. It should actually save in production costs quite a bit: a little less conversation and a little more action…would be great! Shit or get off the pot, homeboy! Your story arcs stand on their own, stop trampling them with so much dialogue. Actually, since I’m already venting here, I just want to point out that The Town’s ending was a little flat and the next time you think ending one of your films - semi-spoiler here - with a pretty lady in a field surrounded by wildflowers is a wise choice, think again. Remember Armageddon? Remember??! Not sure how that went for you but it was pretty puketastic for the rest of us.
Too much Baffleck, yelling, talking, Hamm’s sub-perfect performance and the mediocre ending are really all (all!) I have to complain about. The flipside is that a) Baffleck still didn’t suck, b) Hamm still delivered, c) Renner absolutely delivered and d) the ending comes off mediocre only because it’s preceded by an otherwise b+ story.
Stream of consciousness kudos go like this: great aerial shots of Charlestown…who knew one could see so many aerial shots of a single square mile without getting bored? Rebecca Hall plays out the naïve, bewildered, romanticized (if not cliché) female role with grace and ease. A necessary second shout out to Renner for playing the role of a guy who comes off like a giant, reminding us it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, blah blah. Also, he comes off in so many of his films like a scrappy UK soccer Hooligan who don’t take shite from no wankers famously. It definitely worked in here. But just throwing it out there: any takers for casting him in a romantic comedy? It’s worth the potential bomb that movie could be to see him smile when he’s not shooting, stabbing, strangling or screaming at his victims. Is it even physically possible? Speaking of the physically impossible, the car/van/suv chase scenes were as gripping as Renner’s performance and the slow motion shots, unlike a third of The Town's dialogue, made reasonable contributions to the mood of the moments they were sparsely used in.
Stream of consciousness kudos go like this: great aerial shots of Charlestown…who knew one could see so many aerial shots of a single square mile without getting bored? Rebecca Hall plays out the naïve, bewildered, romanticized (if not cliché) female role with grace and ease. A necessary second shout out to Renner for playing the role of a guy who comes off like a giant, reminding us it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, blah blah. Also, he comes off in so many of his films like a scrappy UK soccer Hooligan who don’t take shite from no wankers famously. It definitely worked in here. But just throwing it out there: any takers for casting him in a romantic comedy? It’s worth the potential bomb that movie could be to see him smile when he’s not shooting, stabbing, strangling or screaming at his victims. Is it even physically possible? Speaking of the physically impossible, the car/van/suv chase scenes were as gripping as Renner’s performance and the slow motion shots, unlike a third of The Town's dialogue, made reasonable contributions to the mood of the moments they were sparsely used in.
I’ll leave it at that. Nice work Baffleck, keep the haters hating and kill it on feature #3.
