Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Movie Review - "The Town" A 7 out of 10 on the JWO scale

The Town directed and starring Ben Affleck. A 7 out of 10 on the JWO scale of movie reviews. In many ways this was a typical bank robbery film. Good action, good chase scenes, and a real funny scene when they are dressed up as nuns.. But this movie strove for more. I of course am very susceptible to liking movies with messages about a person transcending their environment and that is the main message of the story. The barriers that are thrown up that prevent it. The known risks and comforts, and limitations of staying, the unknown risks of transcending. Of course like any film of this genre, formulaically there is always ONE LAST JOB that of course never works as planned. I think there was also an interesting juxtaposition of one person wanting to change but looking for another to tell them how, vs. having to find it within oneself.

The final words in the movie listed below were true though. There is always a price to pay for changing, even if that is pain for the people you leave behind. “for the first time in my life I'm leaving this city. Maybe if I go I could stop looking. No matter how much you change you still have to pay the price for the things you've done. So I got a long road. But I know I'll see you again, this side or the other.” I wont get into the metaphysical question of whether there is an afterlife. I think though this speaks to unresolved issues during our lifetime and our realization that we cannot control all things coupled with our desire for resolution. Well lets keep working at our unresolved issued, so we can resolve them on this side. For all those who didn’t get out…..I’ll see you on the other side. (or on Facebook possibly).