Recently I became interested in the movie that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon made together and was releasing on Netflix. The Rip. It seemed like it could be entertaining. Then I watched like thirty minutes of it and realized that it was another one of those movies, like virtually all I’ve attempted to watch in the last ten years or so, that seem to be written by people incapable of producing a good script. Cringe dialogue, the subtlety of a hammer. In online mentions of this movie, people had compared it to a similar one (if only because heists and Ben Affleck were involved): The Town. Released in 2010, but somehow already looking ancient.

Well, The Town was fantastic. I checked it out at midnight and ended up staying up until about three in the morning. Extremely well-written script with not only unique, compelling dialogue, but also great set pieces, mirroring, and callbacks. Like a perfectly-built machine. Affleck does well, although I’ve never been much of a fan of his acting. Jeremy Renner, though, is amazing as this loose cannon who did nine years in prison and who’d rather die “holding court on the street,” as he put it, than return to jail. I never cared much for Renner’s acting, but it feels like other movies he was in, those I’ve seen at least, simply didn’t give him the chance.

As the romantic interest we have Rebecca Hall in her twenties. Gorgeous woman, always a pleasure to have her on-screen, and from the moment she first appears, you understand why a couple of the men involved would risk getting in trouble for her. We also have Jon Hamm from that old Mad Men show (which I never watched, but it was all over the place back in the day) doing very well as an FBI dude, and Blake Lively acting as a strung-out town bicycle. She honestly did great.

The movie gives a great sense of being stuck in a small town (although, as far as I could tell, it’s just part of Boston) with nowhere to go, burdened with the weight of generations, doomed to nothingness unless you dare to stick your head out in a way that could make others cut it off.

It’s very rare for me these days to watch a Hollywood movie and think, “Wow, that was great.” So I recommend this one.