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LeeAnn M. - wrote on 2012-06-27 19:45
"I have no sympathy for Claire, either, for being an accessory to Doug's crimes by refusing to sever contacts with him even after learning who he really was, and for tipping Doug off to the Feds' presence in her house with a "sunny days" code, thus enabling Doug to elude the law."Doug saw everything that was going on in that room before she made the sunny days remarke. He did not elude the law because of it, but because of the tip-off, Doug felt better knowing that Claire was on his side, thus he donated some of his funds to her in return. I don't think he would have left her that money if she just simply said, "Sure, Doug. Come on over because I am all alone here."Anyway, the movie was just fiction for entertainment. I enjoyed the movie as such and tried not to overanalyze each character's reaction as real world actions.
mpol - wrote on 2012-06-27 18:35
The Doug-Claire romance scenes, which were tepid at best, helped ruin The Town for me, as did the phony ending.
mpol - wrote on 2012-06-27 18:34
Since I'm from the Boston area, I've always enjoyed seeing movies that're about Boston, so I was looking forward to seeing The Town. Unfortunately, it is, imo, a very hyped-up, cheap, overrated piece of trash that's more like a feature-length soap opera than a regular movie. It's too predictable and unbelievable, and the cast, imo, was poor to mediocre at Best. Ben Affleck is very overrated as an actor. I liked the beginning of The Town, with the aerial and ground shots of Boston's Charlestown section, as well as the opening bank heist, but The Town went from being okay to being just plain awful...in a matter of minutes.
mpol - wrote on 2012-06-27 17:31
Ben Affleck did a great job directing Gone Baby Gone, but his brother, Casey, is a much better, more talented actor. As for The Town, imho, it's predictable and unbelievable to me. The idea of an educated woman who makes a decent salary as a bank manager, and lives in a gentrified part of Charlestown falling in love with an armed robber, thug and murderer who's also on the lam from the law, simply doesn't sit well with me. I don't buy it.
mpol - wrote on 2012-06-27 17:22
To each their own, LeeAnn M., but I sympathized with FBI Agt. Frawley and the other law enforcement people who were in hot pursuit of Doug MacRay and his men and were determined to have them spend long, hard time in a Federal penitentiary for their crimes. I have no sympathy for Claire, either, for being an accessory to Doug's crimes by refusing to sever contacts with him even after learning who he really was, and for tipping Doug off to the Feds' presence in her house with a "sunny days" code, thus enabling Doug to elude the law. Imho, Claire should've either been criminally prosecuted herself, or at least put on some sort of probation for abetting Doug and saving his butt.
mpol - wrote on 2012-06-27 16:11
Isn't it funny (or not so funny) that the vast majority of people, either out of naivete or willful ignorance, missed the fact that Doug MacRay skipped town for Florida without Claire for the following reasons: (A) Doug was on the lam from the law for quite awhile, and he had no choice but to hurry away without Claire, because he went back to Charlestown, killed Rusty and Fergie (The Town's crime bosses). (B) Doug had gotten what he really and truly wanted out of Claire all along; a promise from her not to turn him in, which he got. (C) At some level, Doug knew that sooner or later, he'd be hunted down and caught (perhaps violently) by the Feds and either tried and sent to prison for his crimes (as Doug should've been), or perhaps gunned down by the law, and that Claire would end up in the line of fire. Oh, and here's another part of the message that The Town conveys to me that I don't like; That it's okay to engage in an act of vigilantism, take the law into one's own hands, and either permanently cripple or kill people just because they either threw bottles at, or threatened his girlfriend.
mpol - wrote on 2012-06-27 16:05
Frankly, I do not like the messages that The Town conveys to me personally. For one thing, it glorifies the very worst aspects of Boston's history. Secondly, The Town asks the audience to sympathize with professional armed robbers, thugs and murderers. Thirdly, The Town portrays Doug MacRay, his men, and Claire (who became an accessory to Doug's crimes due to refusing to sever contacts with him even after she learned the truth about him through FBI Agt. Frawley), as good people, while the Feds and other law enforcement people as a bunch of incompetent jerks. Fourth, The Town normalizes the Stockholm Syndrome and its inverse, the Lima Syndrome and makes relationships that are based on this kind of thing as normal and healthy, when, in fact, they're really not. Fifth, The Town conveys the message that it's okay to commit crimes if one can get away with it, to abet and protect and armed felon who's also a wanted fugitive, and make total dupes of law enforcement officials who're assigned to bring down criminals, thus enabling them to elude the law. Sixth; Having said all of the above, there are at least three types of people who liked The Town: A) Extremely naive or willfully ignorant people, many of them who are not from the Boston area and are therefore not attuned to Boston's history. (B) People who are from Boston, but long for the days when Boston was at its most backwards, meanspirited and vicious. (C) People who have had run-ins with law-enforcement officials for whatever reason(s), and are therefore more likely to sympathize with Doug MacRay, his men, and with Claire, who pretty much abetted and protected Doug from the law, when he should've been brought to justice.
mplo - wrote on 2011-09-12 21:04
To each their own. I liked Ben Affleck far better in Good Will Hunting.
Movie Maven - wrote on 2011-09-12 20:57
I thought The Town was awesome. The only Ben Affleck movies that I really didn't like were Gigli and one of the superhero ones where he was blind. Other than that, I feel like he's an incredible actor and always gives 110% in front of the camera.
mplo - wrote on 2011-09-11 17:41
There are films that Ben Affleck has been in that I liked far, far better than The Town. Ben really overplayed his hand on that one, by trying too hard with the Boston accents, which he grossly overdid. Too much editing and a sappy, improbably ending, along with overblown shoot-out scenes in the North End and in Fenway Park, as well as Doug and Claire's teenage-like romance, helped ruin the film for me.
