Well I guess I wouldn’t be a responsible movie blogger without offering some commentary on the surprising news last night that Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman/Bruce Wayne.
Affleck will make his debut as the Caped Crusaders in July 2015 in the Man of Steel sequel, pairing him alongside Henry Cavill as Superman. To say the least, there’s been a bit of a “Batlash” (I’m sorry) since the announcement. Some have pointed out that Affleck has played a superhero before to middling results. That would be 2003’s Daredevil.
Many (including I) figured Warner Bros. would go with a relative unknown, like they did with Cavill. The most surprising thing to me is that Affleck took the role. Mr. Affleck has got quite a directing career going on right now that culminated this year when Argo won the Academy Award for Best Picture. There is no question that Affleck pretty much has his pick of the litter for any project he chooses to direct. For him to take on this iconic role was unexpected.
So what do I think? Honestly, I haven’t figured that out yet. Affleck is a serviceable actor but not a great one (he’s a better director if you ask me). It’s hard to imagine him as Batman. Here’s where I see a ray of light: major casting announcements have been poorly received before and then we were all proven wrong. Michael Keaton was not a popular choice to play the same role, but he was fine. Same goes for Daniel Craig as James Bond. And Tom Cruise as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire. Truth be told, filling the shoes of Christian Bale is a tall order for anyone and Warner Bros. decided to go in the direction of casting a hugely famous face.
We’ll see how Affleck does, but my main hope is that the sequel improves on Man of Steel, which I found disappointing. You can read my review of it here:
https://toddmthatcher.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/man-of-steel-review/
So while I’m not outraged about the casting as others are, I’m skeptical. I hope Affleck proves me wrong and I hope the makers of the film put forward a better product than they did this summer.
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