Our take
A dark and gritty movie about the lives of two of Boston’s finest. This film portrays the hard and unbearing choices the leading man has to make; lose his friends and continue with the only life he ever knew and maybe even end up dead or challenge his predicament and burn every last ship behind him. The amazing and impressive cast delivers outstanding performances, the characters are all in their own way realistic and have all good reasons to behave as they do. Jeremy Renner is a major force in this movie. In every scene, you can feel his strong presence. Renner with his chilling, loyal and violent attitude looks like he can explode anytime but he just waits for the right moment to blaze off.
What it won
Oscars
1 nom
Venice
1 nom
Golden Globes
1 nom
Nat. Board of Review
1 nom
The story
Doug MacRay is a longtime thief, who, smarter than the rest of his crew, is looking for his chance to exit the game. When a bank job leads to the group kidnapping an attractive branch manager, he takes on the role of monitoring her – but their burgeoning relationship threatens to unveil the identities of Doug and his crew to the FBI Agent who is on their case.
Elsewhere
"A top notch action flick undone by flashes of ego."
— Adam Woodward
"Affleck’s sophomore offering contains plenty of pay-offs and a slick narrative structure, easily solidifying his growing reputation as a director with the right stuff for a familiar good time."
— Eric Kohn
This movie is raw, there is truly no other way to describe the film. See for yourself.