Town, The

Based on the novel "Prince Of Thieves" by Chuck Hogan, "The Town" is about bank robberies in Boston. To be specific, a one-square-mile neighborhood in Boston, called Charlestown, has produced more bank and armored car robbers than anywhere in the U.S. One of them is Doug MacRay (Affleck), who had a chance to escape following in his father's criminal footsteps. Instead he became the leader of a crew of ruthless bank robbers, who pride themselves on taking what they want and getting out clean. The only family Doug has are his partners in crime, especially Jem (Renner), who, despite his dangerous, hair-trigger temper, is the closest thing Doug ever had to a brother. However, everything changed on the gang's last job when Jem briefly took a hostage: bank manager Claire Keesey (Hall). When they discover she lives in Charlestown, Jem gets nervous and wants to check out what she might have seen. Knowing what Jem is capable of, Doug takes charge, and he seeks out Claire, who has no idea that their encounter is not by chance or that this charming stranger is one of the men who terrorized her only days before. As his relationship with Claire deepens into a passionate romance, Doug wants out of this life and the town. But with Feds, led by Agent Frawley (Hamm), closing in and Jem questioning his loyalty, Doug realizes that getting out will not be easy and, worse, may put Claire in the line of fire. Any choices he once had have boiled down to one: betray his friends or lose the woman he loves, (Gary Reber)

Both the theatrical version (02:04:44) and the extended cut of the film (02:30:17) are available. Special features include the following featurettes: "Pulling Off The Perfect Heist" (HD 02:51), "The Town" (HD 04:57), "Nuns With Guns: Filming In The North End" (HD 04:52), "The Real People Of The Town" (HD 03:06), "Ben Affleck: Director & Actor" (HD 07:34), and "The Cathedral Of Boston" (HD 07:03); the theatrical version and extended cut commentaries by Ben Affleck; BD-Live functionality; the film on DVD; and a digtal copy of the film.

The 1080p AVC picture exhibits a natural but edgy quality that depicts the rough edge of life in Charlestown. The color palette is natural, with exaggeration. Fleshtones are generally naturally hued. Contrast is balanced with deep blacks and revealing shadow delineation. Image depth is quite respectable. Resolution is nicely resolved, with revealing detail in close-ups of facial features, clothes, and object textures. Overall, the imagery presents a sense of realism that enhances the storytelling. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is conventional sounding, with imperfect dialogue reproduction. At times the dialogue sounds closely miked and spatially non-integrated, and at other times the sound is more naturally open. The soundtrack sounds, at times, monaural, then suddenly opens up with an engaging soundfield presence and aggressive surrounds. Atmospheric effects are narrowly focused with a monaural or subtle surround focus, except when the soundtrack opens up during moments of intense action. As intensity builds, the music score kicks in with a wide and deep soundstage presence that extends deep into the surrounds, punctuated with .1 LFE bass to sub -25 Hz levels. As robberies occur, the SPL level in all the channels becomes energized, for a dynamic experience, with directionalized surrounds and strong panning effects. Overall, this is an unpolished, uneven, and veiled sonic production, but the roughness matches the storytelling. (Gary Reber)