By Karan Dholakia
Okay, so by now you've seen/heard that the Ben Affleck will be cast as Batman in the Man of Steel sequel. (Un)Surprisingly, there's been a huge uproar at casting Mr. Affleck as Master Wayne.
[caption id="attachment_7483" align="alignright" width="372"]
I refer to this 'monstrosity'[/caption]
Why? Well it seems that many people are basing this off the monstrosity that was Daredevil. Are people forgetting about Hollywoodland? The Town? Good Will Hunting? Hell, Dogma!?
Affleck has made some bad films, admittedly, but some would say that he's more than redeemed himself as a performer with his most recent works?
Or maybe it's about more than just performance? Maybe it's about fitting the character? Did anybody think Heath Ledger was going to play a good Joker? What about when people were skeptical about Andrew Garfield as arguably the best incarnation of Spider-Man? Cavill as Supes?
I look over at my news feed and all I'm seeing is people complaining about Ben Affleck.
Nolan's Batman had without a doubt raised the bar on 'Superhero' films. The character of Bruce Wayne had almost been redefined. He was already a dark, brooding, emotionally damaged individual, but Nolan took it a step further. He extrapolated traits from the source material and had made him into an emotionally broken man with nothing to lose.
Both Superman and Batman in their respective films were, to an extent, 'reinvented' to be adapted for the big screen. Not a huge deal, but reinvented nonetheless. (Check out THIS article for major differences between the various Batman incarnations, and THIS lengthy column on Man of Steel/Superman Unchained comic.)
Why is it so farfetched to accept that Ben Affleck is the next Batman? That he's able to show some range as a performer? Daredevil aside, for a moment, because THAT argument has already become stale and this story isn't even 24 hours old. Yes, it's true, in Daredevil, Affleck portrayed the Man Without Fear with the utmost cheesiness and clichéd mannerisms, but this is a different ballgame. We're talking about the post-Daredevil Affleck. We're talking about the Affleck in Argo. In The Town.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we're talking about The World's Finest.
K.