There has to be a change...usually.

Went and saw the new movie The Town, starring and directed by Ben Affleck.
The movie opened strong and has gotten great reviews, but I actually thought it sort of....fizzled, meaning it really did not have much of a story arc to it, the main character played by Affleck, Doug MacRay, really didn't change much- essential, in my opinion to a good story.
A story is usually the literal and internal journey of a character- first he is in his life, not knowing another way to be- MacRay is nestled deep in a subarb of Boston- Charlestown, where bank robbing is a family business helped by the Irish mob. He knows no other life and desires no other life.
Then something happens- MacRay finds himself caring for the Bank Manger he has to kidnap to get away from the police and he tells his cohorts he will keep any eye on her, to make sure she doesn't know anything about them.
He is intrigued but nothing has happened to prevent him from living the life he has always known....until while he is watching her, she approaches him, unaware of who he is and they start a relationship....now he is in unsure waters, though he has done nothing to keep him from the life he knows, until....she tells him she remembers a tattoo one of the bank robbers had on the back of his neck- now he has a choice, a can't go back to his life choice- let his gang kill her or not tell them and protect her.
This is where I think the town fall short- MacRay kind of stays in the middle- even though his gang does find out about his relationship with a witness that could "screw" them all- he doesn't have to fight very hard to keep them from killing her, he tells the Irish mob he's "out", they put some pressure on him and he does the "Big Job" - and when it goes south- when everything goes south, him not really saving the girl, not in any big way- he saves himself, basically.
No real plot twists, no real plan- from a guy who is "the architect" of the bank heists- the one who figures out how to get it done-expected more of a "twisty", roller coaster ending then what I got.