The city in this movie is referred to as "the hammer" by the voice on the radio repeatedly (hammer being the nickname of hamilton), and in the one shot of the city i swear it was of hamilton, ontario looking out from the mountain towards the harbour. Was this supposed to be hamilton? Hopefully someone else from the golden horseshoe saw this movie and thought the same thing so i don't look like some kind of mental patient in a black suit running around with a club.
shareYes, it's Hamilton. Doesn't mean you wouldn't still look like a mental patient if you were running aound in a black suit with a club, though.
shareYes, if you check the filming locations you'll see both Hamilton and Dundas ON listed. I'm not sure where they shot in Dundas, but they never hid the fact that this was indeed Hamilton, despite never actually saying the name. They do call the city The Hammer, and have some panning shots overlooking the Hamilton Mountain. You can also see the family court building (the old central library) used for the court scene, and it looks like the dry cleaner shot was done in Hamilton City Centre mall. Someone else can correct if they have more info. They also call the local paper "The Spec" which is indeed what locals call The Hamilton Spectator. So, without ever saying so, this is a very Hamilton movie, and it is unusual for films to be so honest about their filming locations when they shoot in Canada (in favor of pretending the location is really in the U.S.).
To their shame, no theatres in Hamilton actually played this film during its theatrical run. You had to drive to Toronto to see it, where it played at only one theatre for a couple of weeks.
To be specific, it was Anvil city. They never say the name of the city at any point, only referring to it as "the Hammer"... just like Hamilton. But in a deleted scene there is a sign on a wall that says "Anvil City" on it. I Can't remember exactly, but I think it was a deleted scene where Arthur gets a package in the mail an is dropped off by his boss. The sign was at the entrance of Arthur's old residence.
It was most definitely Ontario though, as you can see "Ontario" written on the wall in the courtroom scene. It's on that round logo sign behind the judge.
As for the Spectator newspaper, same as Hamilton. However, the layout of the paper looks different. Also, in the movie it was simply "The Spectator" as opposed to "Hamilton Spectator" like in real life.
Finally, ever see Kick-Ass? It's funny, they both have the vigilante superhero concept, both came out around the same time, were both shot in Hamilton, even shared some prominent locations. Same alley ways, same parking lot behind the peep show place.
As to why they never flat out called it Hamilton, or went out of their way a bit to never specifically say Hamilton, I have no idea. Maybe a legal thing? Probably just wanted it to be anonymous like Springfield.