THE AISLE SEAT - by Mike McGranaghan

"THE TOWN: ULTIMATE COLLECTOR'S EDITION"

With 2007's , Ben Affleck showed great promise as a director. With The Town, he solidified his status as a filmmaker worth following. Once again returning to the streets of his native Boston, Affleck fashioned another gritty, compelling crime thriller that offered equal parts excitement and substance. The movie was a big hit at the box office, too; its success has allowed Affleck to revisit the editing room for an extended cut with a brand new ending. This longer, more in-depth version is available on The Town Ultimate Collector's Edition Blu-Ray, in stores March 6.

The story is set in Charleston, a real Boston neighborhood known for spawning an uncommonly high percentage of bank robbers. Affleck stars as Doug MacRay, one such criminal, who in the opening scene pulls off a bank heist with his best friend/right-hand man "Jem" Coughlin (The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner) and some other cohorts. The too-edgy-for-his-own-good Jem insists on deviating from the plan by taking the bank manager, Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), hostage.

They ultimately drop her off unharmed, but Jem wonders if she might be able to identify them through the masks they were wearing. Doug starts following her to see if there's any indication of this. There isn't, and the two strike up an acquaintanceship that eventually blossoms into romance. When Doug hears how traumatized Claire is from the situation, he begins to feel badly. He even contemplates getting out of the bank robbing business, but the low-life mastermind of the heists, a florist named "Fergie" Colm (Pete Postlethwaite), doesn't intend to let him go. "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm plays FBI agent Adam Frawley, who is tracking down Doug and his crew, further complicating his thoughts of escape.

The Town has all the bank robbing action you could want, plus a couple of really suspenseful escape scenes. Affleck knows how to stage such sequences so they feel authentic and not too movie-ish. Even when the guys don nun masks to rob a bank, it seems creepy and dangerous rather than silly.

Underneath the crime-related matter lies much examination of human emotions. Doug's convict father (Chris Cooper) and his runaway mother both figure into the psychology of why he robs banks. His ex-girlfriend (Blake Lively), who also happens to be Jem's sister, is trying to tie him down by using a child that isn't even his. He's dating a woman whose trauma he is directly responsible for. He wants to go straight because of his feelings for her, yet loyalty to Jem makes that easier said than done. It's natural to sit upright and pay attention to a movie when a group of masked robbers walks into a bank with semi-automatics; the beauty of The Town is that it keeps you every bit as hooked when you're just watching two people talking. The emotional action is just as gripping as the physical action.

The extended cut is over 20 minutes longer and offers more character details, including a scene in which Doug endures a drug relapse, and more of the romance between Doug and Claire. The biggest change is the new ending. In my original theatrical review of The Town, I said the ending felt "tacked on" and was "a bit out of sync with everything else." The ending on the Ultimate Collector's Edition is perhaps not 100% perfect either, but it's certainly a lot better and a lot more true to the overall tone of the picture. No spoilers here, except to say that it's much grittier than what you saw theatrically.

There are three discs in the Ultimate Collector's Edition. One is the extended cut with alternate ending. That disc also includes "The Town: A Director's Journey," an excellent 30-minute documentary in which Affleck discusses the different cuts of his film and how they evolved. He says the theatrical cut was right for mass audiences, but the extended cut is for people who really love the film and want to explore the characters and situations in more depth. As for the new ending, he feels that he would have had to reshoot certain things earlier in the movie in order to make it pay off as fully as he would have liked; that's why he didn't use it, despite being partial to it. Affleck is insightful in his comments, and I found this feature to be very rewarding. An UltraViolet copy of the movie is additionally included.

The second disc is the original Blu-Ray release, which contains the extended cut with the original ending, as well as the theatrical cut. The bonus features on this disc are a series of six “Focus Points” - short making-of segments that total 30 minutes. They are centered around topics such as how one of the fictional bank heists was inspired by a real one, what it was like to film in Boston, and how Affleck performed writing, directing, and acting duties on the movie. The focus points are well produced and interesting to watch.

Disc three is the extended cut with alternate ending on DVD.

You also get some amazing physical goodies in the box set: a personal letter from Affleck, a 48-page behind-the-scenes photo book, a poster-size map of Charlestown with details on crime scenes from the film, a rub-on tattoo sheet with three copies of Jem's tattoo, a 15-page FBI report like the one Frawley holds in the film, four mug shot cards, and a replica of an FBI file. These things are fun to peruse.

All in all, The Town Ultimate Collector's Edition is a solid buy for fans of the film. Beautifully packaged and boasting outstanding picture and sound quality, it is undoubtedly a first-rate Blu-Ray release.

( 1/2 out of four)

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The Town is rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use. The running time is 2 hours and 4 minutes.