The Town | "Whose Car We Gonna Take?"

Charlestown, Loyalty, and a Life You Can’t Escape

This week on Forgotten Cinema, we’re not only heading into Charlestown with The Town, Ben Affleck’s tense, character-driven crime drama that has only grown in stature since its release, but we're also battling an onslaught of power surges while recording, so when you see the blurry video, don't be alarmed. It's just Forgotten Cinema facing off against Darren Peter Oswald (D.P.O.) and surviving! (Deep Cut alert!)

Both of us are big fans of this The Town. From the opening moments, this film establishes a lived-in world where loyalty, reputation, and geography are inseparable. The performances across the board are excellent, the story is tightly constructed, and Boston itself feels less like a backdrop and more like a living, breathing character woven into every frame.

Crime With a Sense of Place

What really works here is how confidently the film balances crime mechanics with character drama. The robberies are gripping, but they’re never just about the action. Every heist is tied to the characters’ histories, relationships, and the limited options available to them. Affleck’s direction keeps the tension high while never losing sight of the emotional stakes.

Jeremy Renner’s performance, in particular, adds volatility and menace, while Affleck grounds the film with a weary, conflicted lead performance. The result is a crime movie that feels both propulsive and deeply personal.

A Few Notes From the Crew

That doesn’t mean it’s flawless. Field would have liked the film to lean even harder into its heist elements, pushing those sequences just a bit further. Butler, meanwhile, feels Blake Lively’s character, while crucial to setting up the film’s climax, needed more screen time and development to fully justify her narrative importance. These are small critiques, though, and they never derail the experience.

Is The Town a Modern Crime Classic?

Even with those minor notes, The Town remains a standout modern crime film: smart, atmospheric, and emotionally grounded. It’s a movie that understands how environment shapes identity, and how hard it is to escape the life you’re born into.

It’s a film we were more than happy to revisit and one that still holds up as one of the strongest crime dramas of its era.

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