My thoughts on Ben Affleck as Batman

Trying to make a case for you so please behave
   

  

    It seems that everyone else has thrown out their opinion of the news of Ben Affleck’s casting as Batman in the Man of Steel sequel; most of it has been quite negative. I have to admit that my knee jerk reaction to the news was to make a joke to a friend of mine that his casting was one of the signs of the oncoming apocalypse. Now that I’ve had a chance to mill it over the only negative opinion I really have is that fact that DC and Warner Brothers feel the need to add Batman to a Superman sequel before putting a much better story out there to build on Man of Steel like The Dark Knight built on Batman Begins.

    But back to the matter at hand, and I’m sure that the six people who read this are a bit curious about my opinion so here it is: I’m actually fine with it.

And there goes three fans, for the other three left I will explain….

   First off, Ben Affleck is not a bad actor. I find that he’s actually a very good actor that has a problem with choosing projects to star in. I’m sure if you were to think of at least five Affleck movies off the top of your head only one of them would be any good. Granted his last superhero movie, Daredevil, was not a great movie. It wasn’t a good movie if I’m being honest. But there were a lot more problems with that film than just Ben’s perceived lack of acting chops.

     There is one movie that Ben starred in that showed that not only could he act but has the appropriate range to play Batman. Hollywoodland was a movie that came out in 2006 that starred Affleck alongside

I really should watch this again

Diane Lane and Adrian Brody. In this Ben played George Reeves, the man who played the title character in the 1950s Adventures of Superman television show. In this performance Ben played a man who was conflicted by the fame he had gotten by playing such an iconic character who was a hero to millions and the resentment he felt at that role typecasting him grinding his career to a halt and ultimately leading to his suicide.

   This is where I feel the casting works because Batman is a conflicted character, torn between being Batman and Bruce Wayne, the temptation of crossing the line between hero and outlaw, the desire to stop his crusade or continue the war, this is conflict and Ben is good at this. If Ben can pull this off, which I believe he can, this can be a transformative moment in his acting career, I dare say this might even be a redemptive moment for his career after being considered for so long to be the king of bad movies.

    It’s been known to happen; one example is Robert Downey Jr. who started off as a child actor in the 1980s and was lauded for his talent and also for the massive problems with substance abuse he would have throughout his adult life. His career got a shot in the arm and now he’s been Tony Stark in the Iron Man and Avengers movies, he’s played a version of Sherlock Holmes, and he’s become a well-respected A-list actor. Who saw that coming?

   One more example that comes to mind is the late, great man in black himself Johnny Cash. Throughout the

The man

1980s his career went into a huge slump. Nashville was trying to push out the old guard of Country music and bring in new blood to appeal to a new generation. So they tried to put guys like Johnny out to pasture, but in the mid-90s he got together with Rick Rubin at American Recordings and produced some great music that not only put Cash back on that map but proved that he was still relevant and captivating to a new generation of fans. Who’s ever going to forget his cover of the Nine Inch Nails’ song “Hurt”? I know I certainly won’t forget it anytime soon.

So in the end, Affleck’s casting could very well be a good thing for all parties involved, and we should wait and see what the end result will be before we rush to conclusions. In the end, judge slowly is what I’ve learned in life. Of course if they can get a different director than Zack Snyder on this picture it would improve things by leaps and bounds. Cheers to all!

                                                                              -RC