5.5/10
The more this film is in my mind (including while I was watching it), the more problems I find with it. Affleck certainly has talent as a director, but contrary to Gone Baby Gone, his source material fails him in a big way. Rarely is anything in a movie so off-putting as to when our anti-hero (here Affleck's bank robber) is saddled with all kinds of tropes to force us to sympathize with him - his mother abandoned him and his father's in prison; he wants to Get Away From This Life and Make a Change; he lives by a flimsy Hollywood code of morality and refuses to kill people; the "mob boss" has him by the balls, he's really handsome and really genuinely loves The Girl - all of this is well and good but he's a criminal, and no amount of prettying up can change that. I'll say no more for fear of spoilers, but needless to say I wasn't a fan of the direction his character went in.
I also thought the central relationship was extremely forced (as far as anything suggested in the movie's timeline, the entire thing takes place in the span of 4 days or so) and various plot points come and go only when needed (an incriminating tattoo or Affleck's character's daughter and ex-girlfriend). The ending is ludicrous, mawkish, and the definition of a movie taking the easy way out.
None of this I can really pin on Affleck - as I said, it's his material that doesn't live up to snuff. In fact the movie has its share of strong points - the acting is all-around top notch, the action scenes are exciting and very well-shot, and the pacing never really slows. A bistro scene involving Affleck, Jeremy Renner and Rebecca Hall that has us all guessing how much each knows about the other is particularly worthy of praise. I wish I could say the same for more of the movie though.
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