Ben Affleck's going to be Batman, and true to form the Internet's jumped in with an open mind and have declared "This is awful casting, fuck this guy He was sorely miscast in a film 10 years ago so he's bound to suck". Well done, World Wide Web, you are as regular as clockwork. I find comfort in that. But I say bollocks to the internet. To paraphrase Kevin Smith, Affleck will be the bomb as Batman, yo. For my money we should be more worried about David Goyer, Zack Snyder and Chris Nolan.
To be blunt,
Man of Steel was a mess of a film. Almost completely misjudged tonally and rounded off with a finale seemingly crafted specifically for use in Guantanamo, it successfully reduced a much loved icon of hope, truth, basic moral values and optimism from something to aspire to to 'one of us'. "It's a realistic approach to the character", the makers proudly declared, and while that might work for a character like Batman, it completely misses the point of the big blue boy scout. A Superman flick should be as much about the iconography and symbolism as it is about the character. Realism is a little further down the list, especially when realism seems to translate as 'dour and miserable', which Goyer, Nolan, Snyder and the suits at Warner Brothers seem to think. You're dealing with an indestructible dude from another planet who flies, has ice cold breath and x-ray vision and can shoot heat rays from his fricking eyes. Realism need not apply, not to so much of an extent at least. If this is self pitying, daddy issue laden approach is to be applied to the proposed JLA movie, are we going to end up with a League hanging around the watchtower listening to Joy Division and reading Camus? I want my superheroes to be, oh I dunno, SUPER, damn it. Just a thought.
For the record, I thought Cavill hit it out of the park. One of the film's few redeeming features.
So back to Ben Affleck.
The main criticisms directed at the casting of Affleck as Batman seem to be founded on where his career was over ten years ago, which in anyone's book has to be deemed unfair. Yes, his Matt Murdock sucked. Yes,
Pearl Harbour was a turd that just wouldn't flush. Yes, his performance was pure water torture in
Armageddon. And we have't mentioned
Surviving Christmas, Gigli, Bennifer
, Jersey Girl, yadda yadda yadda. By the mid 2000's things weren't looking good for the man, and he dropped into the shadows for a while, popping up in the odd supporting and cameo roles, most notably his brilliant performance as Superman actor George Reeves in
Hollywoodland, a sure sign of things to come from Affleck the actor.
I don't know if anyone saw Affleck as director coming. I certainly didn't, but damn has he got a talent for it and through directing it seems his acting has evolved and matured. He has since proved himself as a solid performer. His performances in The Company Men, The Town and To The Wonder are beyond anything anyone expected of him back in the day. The dude worked with Malik for christ's sake!
It's fair to say that the guy has earned the right to be critiqued on his current output rather than the ghosts of the past. It's also fair to say he has more than proven himself to have the chops to take on the cowl and what he could potentially bring to the role is mouth watering. Going back to his performance in The Town, could be have a more intense Batman, someone who could REALLY fuck a guy up, Frank Miller style. Maybe we'll have a Batman closer to The Animated Series portrayal with a charismatic Bruce Wayne to balance the driven caped crusader. Maybe he'll bring something completely fresh to the table. Who knows? I can't wait to find out.
There was uproar when Michael Keaton was cast as Bruce Wayne and there was uproar when Heath Ledger was cast in the role that won him an Oscar and launched a million Halloween outfits. Somehow I think this is more of the same. We'll find out for sure in 2015.
