A better Boston movie than its contemporary contenders, argues Ty Burr. In adapting Dennis Lehane's 1998 crime thriller, Affleck ''rescued his career from the water-cooler ridicule that has dogged it since the days of ''Daredevil'' and J.Lo. ... Impressive, even unique, is the way this local boy uses Boston - the mythic, clannish Boston of writers like Lehane and the late George V. Higgins ... It's anchored throughout by an insider's knowledge of this particular street, that specific turn of phrase, this local actor cast in a key bit part. The sag of a three-decker and the sag on the faces of the people who live there.''

Read Ty Burr's full review

Pictured, Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie.