Critical Reception and Legacy (The Town) The Town
The Town earned back four times its budget
The film was a commercial success that cemented Affleck's second career as a director:
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Budget | ~$37 million |
| Opening weekend | $23.8 million (#1) |
| Domestic gross | ~$92.1 million |
| International gross | ~$61.8 million |
| Worldwide gross | ~$154 million |
CinemaScore audiences gave the film a B+ average. (wikipedia)
Rotten Tomatoes certified fresh at 92%
The critical consensus was strong. Rotten Tomatoes aggregated 238 reviews into a 92% approval rating with a 7.70/10 average, stating:
"Tense, smartly written, and wonderfully cast, The Town proves that Ben Affleck has rediscovered his muse — and that he's a director to be reckoned with." — Rotten Tomatoes, Rotten Tomatoes (2010)
Metacritic scored the film at 74/100 from 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." (metacritic)
A. O. Scott praised the heist sequences as evidence of directorial skill
"That sequence, like most of the other action set pieces in the film, is lean, brutal, and efficient, and evidence of Mr. Affleck's skill and self-confidence as a director." — A. O. Scott, The New York Times (2010)
Scott's focus on the action sequences identified Affleck's core strength: the ability to stage complex heist and chase scenes with clarity and propulsive energy. The opening bank robbery, the North End armored-car chase, and the Fenway Park climax each escalate in scale without losing coherence.
Roger Ebert gave it three stars and identified its structural ambition
Roger Ebert awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars. He praised Affleck's direction and Renner's performance but noted that the film's reach exceeded its grasp on the thematic level — it wanted to make "a biographical and even philosophical statement about the culture of crime, but it doesn't do that as successfully." Ebert also observed that the action sequences, while technically accomplished, sometimes felt governed by screenplay mechanics rather than genuine danger. (rogerebert.com — 403 on fetch)
Roeper placed it alongside Heat
Richard Roeper's assessment was the most enthusiastic among major critics:
Roeper gave the film an A+ rating, noting similarity to Michael Mann's Heat, which he called "one of [his] favorite movies of all time." — Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times (2010)
The Heat comparison recurred across reviews. Both films feature a bank-robbery crew pursued by a relentless law-enforcement figure, and both attempt to give equal dramatic weight to criminals and cops. The key difference is structural: Mann splits his film into two protagonist threads (De Niro and Pacino), while Affleck anchors everything to Doug, making the FBI investigation a pressure mechanism rather than a parallel story.
Variety praised the balance of action and character
The action scenes strike "an ideal balance between kineticism and clarity." — Justin Chang, Variety (2010)
Chang credited cinematographer Robert Elswit and editor Dylan Tichenor with the visual coherence of the action sequences — a significant compliment given that incoherent action editing was the dominant complaint against Hollywood filmmaking in 2010.
The Hollywood Reporter found the storytelling uneven
Not all reviews were positive. The Hollywood Reporter acknowledged Affleck's atmospheric control but questioned the emotional architecture:
"Characters resolutely remain types." — THR Staff, The Hollywood Reporter (2010)
The review noted that the film "moves less surely between reckless action and intimate drama" and criticized the ending as sentimental compared to the tougher Boston crime films that preceded it — particularly Peter Yates's The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973).
The Guardian called the action sharp but the narrative bogus
Xan Brooks offered a characteristically blunt British assessment:
Action sequences are "sharply orchestrated" but the narrative is "a bogus, bull-headed enterprise all the same." — Xan Brooks, The Guardian (2010)
Brooks's objection was to the film's romantic subplot, which he found implausible — a criticism that echoed the novel's handling of Claire, whom even the adaptation comparison described as "far more likable in the film" than in Chuck Hogan's Prince of Thieves. (thefilmstage)
Renner's Oscar nomination anchored the awards campaign
Jeremy Renner received the film's sole Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor. He also earned nominations from the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, and Broadcast Film Critics Association. The performance was widely described as the film's most electric element — a volatile, physically committed turn that gave Jem a dangerous charisma the screenplay alone could not have supplied.
Pete Postlethwaite received a posthumous BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor, recognizing his work as Fergie Colm. Postlethwaite died of pancreatic cancer on January 2, 2011, three months after the film's release.
Additional awards recognition included:
- National Board of Review: Best Acting by an Ensemble Cast and Top Ten Films of 2010
- Producers Guild of America: nomination for Best Film
- Satellite Awards: nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Renner), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Editing
- Broadcast Film Critics: nominations for Best Film, Best Cast, Best Screenplay, Best Action Film
The film positioned Affleck as a director first
The Town was Affleck's second directorial effort after Gone Baby Gone (2007). Its commercial and critical success established him as a legitimate filmmaker rather than an actor who directed. The trajectory continued with Argo (2012), which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Reviewers noted the progression:
Affleck's "strongest skills as a film maker are his screenwriting, his ability to craft compelling drama, and his work with actors." — Film Obsessive (2020)
The film also consolidated the Boston crime drama as a durable subgenre, alongside The Departed (2006), Mystic River (2003), Gone Baby Gone (2007), and later Black Mass (2015).