Unless you’ve been on a vision quest in the Appalachians for the last couple of weeks, you’ve undoubtedly heard that Kevin-Smith-mainstay-turned-respected-director Ben Affleck will be donning the cape and cowl of the Dark Knight in the forthcoming sequel to Man of Steel. Though the news was widely reported, odds are good that you heard it via a Facebook or Twitter rant from someone who thought it was the worst bit of casting since Fisher Stevens wore brown-face to play an Indian guy – or perhaps more annoyingly, someone complaining about people who thought it was bad casting.
Those who know me know I’ve developed a bit of a reputation as a hater, especially regarding this sort of inanity. Yet, I feel the need to defend the stance that Mr. Ben Whofleck is a poor choice for the role – particularly since A LOT of the anti-geek shit I’ve been seeing has been the same sort of jock vs. nerd bullshit that I thought most people left in high school, or at least reserved for nerdy pursuits that deserve it – like LARPing or Furries.
Looking away from the social media assholes, who felt the need to get their superiority fix at the expense of some Batman nerds, let’s expose the real reason that #Batfleck (the only way I will ever refer to the role henceforth) is a terrible idea.
1). Affleck isn’t a convincing tough guy.
I’m willing to apply the caveat that Affleck is a pretty big guy. At about 6’4″ and probably around 200 lbs, I have little doubt that Whofleck would kick my ass quite swiftly. He’s also got a number of movies under his belt (including a superhero movie – more on that later), where he’s gained experience in the fields of “punching bad guys” and “jumping in front of explosions.” But is anyone really intimidated by Ben Affleck?
Even in The Town – arguably Whofleck’s most badass role as a Charlestown armed robber – he’s not someone who scares/intimidates audiences. Jeremy Renner was that movie’s violent wild-card foil to Affleck’s straight man. He’s too affable and personable to be perceived as threatening. That might sound a bit subjective, except that the box office more or less agrees. Affleck’s action-related films (Smokin’ Aces, The Sum of All Fears and Reindeer Games) have all underperformed and received middling reviews at best.
#Batfleck is sure to do big business, but America’s trust in Affleck’s ability to convincingly play a rough-and-tumble bad ass is not all that it could be. That’s uniquely poor casting, then, for Batman, an unflappable ninja, who dresses up in Kevlar (not hockey pads), to spend his evenings punting meth-addled rapists, gang-bangers and costumed weirdos in the balls so hard they rethink their life choices. The fact remains that I just don’t think typically-smiley Ben Affleck can pull it off.
2). He’s better behind the camera than in front of it.
One thing a lot of my friends and co-workers have brought up when all these #Batfleck condemnations first came about was that Affleck has spent the last few years as one of the most celebrated men in Hollywood. Indeed, films like Gone Baby Gone, The Town or last year’s Best Picture winner, Argo, show that Ben Whofleck has come a long way from the days spent playing a low-level mob informant, who teams up with a lipstick lesbian to kidnap a mentally handicapped kid. (Seriously, someone greenlit that movie with a $75 million budget.)
But, there’s a theme around the critical acclaim of those three movies – Affleck was behind the camera for all of them. Indeed, #Batfleck didn’t appear in Gone, and most of the acting accolades in Argo went to supporting actor Alan Arkin. (Affleck did get nominated for Best Male Performance at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards, an honor he shared with Channing Tatum’s bare ass.)
That’s not to say his acting hasn’t improved vastly in recent years. It has. Let’s give the devil his due – Whofleck’s turns in The Town and Argo did more for his highlight reel than six movies with Kevin Smith (seven if you count Daredevil – which…why?), so he could conceivably bring some pathos to the role of Batman. That being said, he’s never quite showcased the intensity or grit necessary to convincingly play the Caped Crusader. That may seem like fanboy BS, but then again…
3). Clooney couldn’t do it.
Even the staunchest Affleck defender would have trouble convincing themselves that Affleck is in the same weight class as George Clooney. Like Affleck, Clooney’s been in several action movies, found success on both sides of the camera and garnered a reputation for his star power that may overshadow his acting chops. Clooney also had his burgeoning success almost derailed by a superhero film – 1997’s Batman and Robin.
If you haven’t seen the fourth and final live-action Batman film of the 90s, it’s probably for the best. This award-winning masterpiece of schlock cinema (Alicia Silverstone won the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor) features some of the most cringe-worthy dialogue, hammy acting, blatant homoeroticism and shameless product placement ever set to a shitty, Smashing Pumpkins song. In the middle of it all was George Clooney, looking suave in a tuxedo and flashing his glowing eyes as he exchanged fuck-me glances with at love interest Elle MacPherson, sultry siren Uma Thurman and spunky partner-in-crime Chris O’Donnell.
Clooney proved to be a forgettable Bruce Wayne and flat-out awful Batman. His performance was similar to the acting choices of the Star Wars prequels, where quality actors (Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman) were seemingly instructed to read shit dialogue in monotones devoid of emotion. Watching the film, there’s nothing terribly different between his acting in Batman and Robin and his acting in Ocean’s Eleven, except that his charming monotone and physical presence are both more natural for that role (and the writing behind it is a lot better). This brings me to another point…
4). The whole Boston thing.
Most of Affleck’s best performances involve the thing that first caught our attention about him – his Boston accent. Though born in California, Affleck spent his formative years in Cambridge, and unfortunately picked up the accent in the process. Though the Boston drawl is an affront to the English language, Affleck has made it work for him, using it to add authenticity to his good performances in Good Will Hunting and The Town.
The problem is, his upbringing has seeped into roles where its inclusion makes no sense. Take Dazed and Confused, wherein Affleck’s Fred O’Bannon manages to be the only high schooler in 1976 Austin, Texas who talks like a Southie goon talking about how the Bruins are totally “takin the cup from those queeas in the Hawks, kehd.” Even his freshman spanking paddle famously has the words “Fah – Q” inscribed on it, in case you had any doubt that Affleck was a Pats fan, even in Texas.
Gotham City exists as a sort of amalgamation of major cities like New York and Chicago – it’s definitely not in New England. While I’m sure Affleck will tone his accent down– he can certainly act without it – I identify Affleck with a particular location so much that suspending disbelief becomes hard. Speaking of which…
5). He’s too big a name.
Like most of these issues, this one isn’t really Affleck’s fault – it stems from fans like me, who maybe expect too much from a movie. Consider the past 20 years of superhero films. With the notable exception of Robert Downey Jr., all of these movies have starred relative unknowns as our superhuman protagonists. The X-Men films, Batman Begins, Thor, Captain America and more took actors of relatively small acclaim (Christian Bale, for example, was critically well-regarded, but far from a movie star) and built successful franchises out of source material that requires a big leap of faith from audience members.
Now look at some of the biggest failed superhero movies of the same era: Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern, Halle Berry in Catwoman and Affleck’s Daredevil. Each one of these was heavily advertised as star vehicles. And, they all sucked, in significant part for that precise reason.
Having unknown faces behind our favorite heroes makes it easier to lose ourselves in the moment and accept that these people really are flying, alien gods, metal-clawed immortals or angsty teenagers in a spider suit. Casting a big name arguably takes that away from the audience. I’m worried that the Bat-centric portions of the Batman-Superman movie will just seem like chunks of a Ben Affleck movie.