Rebecca Neumann
Entertainment Editor

The Town is sort of like Bonnie and Clyde. But not really.

The movie revolves around Ben Affleck’s character, Doug MacRay. The leader of a bank robbing team, he falls in love with Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) when he takes her as a hostage during a heist. The plot centers on his guilt and the actions he takes to try and leave his dark past behind him.

Affleck wrote the screenplay, directed the movie and stars in the leading role, so it is obvious who gets the most close-ups and screen time.

However, it isn’t just about Affleck. The Town includes an incredible cast of Jeremy Renner as the hot-headed member of the bank robbing team, Blake Lively as his trashy younger sister and Chris Cooper as Affleck’s incarcerated father.

The Town is one of those movies that make you start to hyperventilate halfway through. You’re so invested in the characters that, by the time someone dies, it’s like a close friend you’re losing instead of a character in a movie. Renner in particular plays his part amazingly, turning his character from a psychopath to a loyal friend within 210 minutes.

Much like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, it makes you root for the villain because it exposes their humanity. It has elements of normal heist thrillers with a bit more reality thrown in. Everything is realistic and well planned out, every plot as intricate as the plans MacRay comes up with.

This movie is filled with adrenaline pumping scenes that give a new meaning to on-the-edge-of-your-seat. It is suspenseful to the point of painful and I even found myself wringing my hands and covering my face, afraid of what might happen to the recently beloved characters.

The Town is also dark, full of deep themes about how children grow up to be the products of their parents and what they mimicked growing up. Throughout the movie you see children, behind fences, with parents, watching crimes take place, absorbing. The analogy is accentuated in the scene when MacRay visits his father (Cooper) in prison.

The Town is definitely one of the best movies of the year, right up there with the summer’s Inception. I predict that the Academy Awards will be good to this film, with a nomination for Best Director for Affleck and a win for Renner for Best Supporting Actor. And that isn’t counting the several other great performances by the supporting cast.

It is a shame it was rated R – only a fraction of Coppell High School will be legally allowed to see it. However, it’s worth dragging one of your parents to for the chance to see it. They will enjoy it, too.