The Town VS Gone Baby Gone

I get that nowadays most of the bigger award shows such as the Oscars and even more so the Golden Globes have become less about great films and more about popularity. Yet, waning significance aside, I still find myself getting way into the award process every year, and each year I find myself disappointed in one way or another. One movie or performance that should be a lock doesn't win, or wasn't nominated in the first place and vice versa.

This year though, even with the expectation that these award shows will never reflect exactly how I felt about the year in film, I find myself particularly surprised by the overly strong reception to Ben Affleck's The Town.

Don't get me wrong, I really like The Town. The performances are top notch, especially Jeremy Renner as Affleck's lifelong friend and fellow bank robber, and I have to admit I was extremely surprised with Blake Lively, who proved here that she has what it takes to be taken seriously.

Also, the action is intense and well executed. Affleck wisely decides to show the action rather than relying on excessive editing to do the trick.

More than anything though, The Town proved that Affleck was no fluke as a director, after his debut effort with the exceptional Gone Baby Gone.

There is, however, one fatal flaw that I believe really keeps this movie from best picture qualification. The ending, more specifically the final shot. It feels as though it belongs in a 90s romantic drama, and not a hard R action picture. Now I understand and agree that you could argue that there is more to The Town other than action, but that final shot really takes me out of the moment and ruins what could have at least been a satisfying ending, albeit far from a perfect one.

Again, I really like this movie, I own it even, but best picture? Really? At best, this is a great, mainstream heist flick. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just can't imagine that anyone would think that this is up there with Inception, Black Swan or even The Fighter.

I wonder though, could award associations be making up for the lack of love for Gone Baby Gone? Granted, 'Gone' star Amy Ryan got an Oscar nomination and Casey Affleck got a few critic's awards, but for the most part 'Gone' went by mostly unnoticed in the awards season that year, something that really upset me.

For me, Gone Baby Gone is leaps and bounds better than the The Town, in almost every way. The atmosphere that Affleck creates is a tense and harrowing one that lasts up to the very last frame of film, with realistic characters and dialogue in each and every scene, all while dealing with a subject matter that would bring a strong reaction in even the most indifferent of people.

I think though, it's the follow-through of Gone Baby Gone that makes me prefer it over The Town. The ending of 'Gone' is at once angering and relieving. It doesn't candy-coat anything for the viewer, you have to decide for yourself if Casey Affleck did the right thing or not, whereas with The Town, it feels as though Ben is forcing it on us, like at the last minute he wanted this instead of that.

I don't know, I really don't mean to sounds like a negative Nancy/BITCH towards The Town. It really makes me excited for what Ben will do next as either actor or director, and hopefully if anything, it will cause more people to go out and watch Gone Baby Gone, a movie I feel deserves the widest audience possible.