SOMETIMES YOU WIN AND SOMETIMES YOU LOSE: Crime, Part One


In two of my favorite action heist movies, the theme is ‘sometimes you win and sometimes you lose’. As a fan of these venues, The Town and Den of Thieves, I have witnessed examples of both.
Specifically, for the actors in these two films, there are examples of both outcomes. Some are lucky and some are not. But there is plenty of excitement in both. This post illustrates the qualities of The Town. Part Two illustrates Den of Thieves.

The Town

At what price does crime pay but you don’t really win? In this movie, a group of bank robbers from the infamous part of Boston, are turned onto the heist of a lifetime. The plan is to rob Fenway Park where the Boston Red Socks play.

This is a brilliant scheme that could net the thieves a stash for life. In fact, this is a play within a movie since the participants in the robbery have to change disguises several times to carry out the heist.

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Ben Affleck from Wikipedia
The only survivor of this caper is the star, Ben Affleck.
In this situation, he escapes with his life but loses ‘the girl’ and just about everything else he’s had.

This includes his family, his friends, his home town, his livelihood. He wins his freedom by escaping into anonymity and the first time he’s ever been out of Boston.

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Rebecca Hall from Wikipedia
Rebecca Hall his love interest is a relative newcomer to American film. This depends on how one defines winning and losing.

Actually, both Rebecca and Ben are both winners and losers. To start she survives the bank robbery and wins Ben’s heart. But then she has to let go of him in order to save her own freedom. Similarly he also has to leave her to keep his own freedom.

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Blake Lively from Wikipedia
While the other woman in his life, Blake Lively who is much more familiar to moviegoers is clearly not both. She is the loser for several reasons. Ben denies he is the father of her daughter. In fact, his desire is to take Rebecca Hall not Blake with him when he leaves his current life. In addition, Blake is arrested for a car accident while she is on drugs.
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Jeremy Renner from Wikipedia
With the worst luck of all is actor and Ben Affleck’s adopted brother, Jeremy Renner. He played Blake Lively’s brother as well and was intent on remaining Affleck’s brother forever.

When destiny’s hand makes the last move, Jeremy chooses to end his life by an FBI bullet rather than return to prison for the rest of his life. Despite their ‘sometimes you win sometimes you lose’ fates not one of these characters qualifies completely for sometime you win. Jeremy’s character has it the worst of all. He completely losses.

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Fenway Park, Boston MA
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Den of Thieves on Yidio
Part Two of this crime scenario featuring ‘Den of Thieves’ is the next blog post in this two-part series.

SOURCES & RESOURCES

1.Fenway Park
2.Southie
3.Ben Affleck
4.Rebecca Hall
5.Blake Lively
6.Jeremy Renner



 

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