The rehabilitation of Ben Affleck is complete. His penance has been accepted.

The star of “Gigli,” “Daredevil” and “Pearl Harbor” has now earned audiences’ respect again (to say nothing of finally being worthy of wife Jennifer Garner). After a period of disastrous films, and a career trajectory in a nosedive, the Oscar winner wowed everyone by directing the astonishing “Gone Baby Gone.”

With “The Town,” Affleck proves his freshman effort was far from a fluke.

Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) is a bank robber, the leader of a gang of consummate pros who pull off a bank job that goes a tad bit sour and are forced to take bank manager Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall) hostage. Though she is released unharmed, Doug’s sociopathic best friend and partner Jem (Jeremy Renner) isn’t a fan of loose ends, and when he begins to suggest that perhaps she be dealt with, Doug says he’ll take care of it.

He never gets around to it, though, on account of his falling in love with her (she is unaware that just weeks earlier, he was the masked man holding a gun to her head).

Inspired by Claire and everything he imagines she represents, Doug begins looking for a way to shed his criminal past and look forward to a future with Claire. But as the FBI (led by Jon Hamm) begins to close in, and as Jem grows increasingly suspicious of his friend’s true motivations, Doug is tragically reminded that all actions, even those for which we are heartily sorry, have consequences.

Based on Chuck Hogan’s novel “Prince of Thieves,” “The Town” is something of an anthropological examination of Boston’s Charleston neighborhood, a small, blue-collar, thick-as-thieves section of town known for criminal trades passed down from father to son.

Affleck, who grew up nearby, has a great eye for tribal customs and real people, and as he did on the set of “Gone Baby Gone,” hires scores of locals to fill the film’s bit parts. This authenticity balances out the supporting cast members, all of whom — including Chris Cooper and an almost unrecognizable Blake Lively — turn in blistering performances.

Like “Good Will Hunting,” which Affleck co-wrote with co-star and best friend Matt Damon, “The Town” focuses on a character who’s involved with a woman who is allowed to get only so close; to see where he lives, the friends he has, and, of course, the way he makes his money would destroy everything.

Doug and Claire’s relationship is also reminiscent of the great crime epic “Heat,” in which Robert De Niro’s character, a master criminal, woos a woman oblivious to his true nature or pursuits.

Doug is trapped by generations of history, hung about his neck like a millstone, constantly dragging him down even when he kicks valiantly toward the air of legitimacy. Though he tries to reform, the accumulated baggage of his life is simply too massive to escape.

It’s not that Doug is unethical or immoral. It’s just that his ethics and morality often run counter to the law. He’s the good man who does bad things.

Or is that the very definition of a bad man?

Affleck captures Charleston admirably, and uses surprisingly effective situational humor to repeatedly deflate escalating tension. There is no doubt that Affleck is mastering his space behind the camera or that his eye is getting more and more assured. He stages love scenes and big action set pieces with the same attention to detail, and elicits unnerving performances from actors and material he clearly respects.

“The Town” is not as dark as you might expect or that it arguably should have been. It certainly possesses some of the same dark intensity as “Mystic River” and “The Departed,” but lacks those films’ gnarled, twisted soul. It is simply too fond of hope to wallow in that kind of soot.

THE TOWN

Cast: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Chris Cooper, Blake Lively, Pete Postlethwaite

Director: Ben Affleck

Theaters: Kimballs, Hollywood, Tinseltown, Carmile, Chapel Hills, Cinemark

Rated: R (for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and drug use)

Running Time: 2 hours, 5 minutes

GRADE: B+

Photo by 2010 Warner Bros.