Paramount+ Just Added Ben Affleck’s Best Action Movie By Far

A hit Ben Affleck movie has been added to Paramount+ as of August 2025, and it’s a must-watch. Affleck’s had an up-and-down career as an action movie star, including his divisive superhero movies that’ve spanned both sides of the Marvel/DC divide, through to things like his recent box office and streaming success with The Accountant 2. In truth, it can apply to most other genres too, as the actor’s had his fair share of misfires – but when he’s good, he can be pretty darn great.

One such example is 2010’s The Town, which remains the best action movie he’s made as an actor and a director. Affleck stars as Douglas “Doug” MacRay, one of a crew of bank robbers in Boston. The plot sees his team – which also includes Jeremy Renner as James “Jem” Coughlin – plotting a final heist at Fenway Park, but things get way more complicated when Doug begins to fall for a victim of one of their previous robberies, Claire Keesey (played by Rebecca Hall). The movie released on Paramount+ on August 1st.

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Building on the success of his directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, and before he went on to Best Picture-winning glory with Argo, this is a great example of just how skilled Affleck is as a director. It’s a movie that’ll have you on the edge of your seat from the very beginning, which includes a stunning opening heist sequence, and constantly builds (and sustains) tension alongside the action. That itself is also brilliantly done by Affleck: kinetic, intense, and absolutely thrilling to watch.

What’s more, this is also another example of how smart Affleck is as a filmmaker, something he still doesn’t get enough credit for. There’s a real emotional depth to the screenplay (which he co-wrote with Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard, adapted from Chuck Hogan’s novel Prince of Thieves), and Affleck delivers a nuanced lead performance that gives Doug more layers than your typical heist movie criminal, exploring more of his psychological and emotional state.

The rest of the cast is just as good. Watching Renner here is a reminder of why he became a huge MCU star in the first place, and he was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role. Hall is another standout, while Jon Hamm and, in a smaller role, Titus Welliver, steal just about every scene they’re in. That itself is in part a credit to Affleck’s direction, though, as he’s long proven himself a filmmaker who knows how to get the best out of his actors, and is a pretty selfless one in that regard, with some of the flashier parts going to his castmates.

The Town is among Affleck’s best-reviewed movies, with a score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was a hit with audiences as well, with an 85% audience score, as well as a solid box office performer, earning $154 million against a budget of just $37m. He may have gone on to even bigger things after this, but it remains one of his very finest achievements, and is definitely worth watching now it’s on streaming again.