About Batman

I've had time to think about this. Too much. In fact I've moved onto the part where I feel guilt that I skipped a news story about chemical weapons being used in Syria to read about Ben Affleck. (Side note: Brett Hull was actually the one to break the Ben news to me. Best way to have it delivered.)

My knee jerk reaction was, "Why Ben? He's a great director, pretty good writer, but when has he pulled off great acting." 

I don't think Ben Affleck being a mediocre actor is bothering me as much as it was last night. 

He's been good (not great) in some things (Hollywoodland, Dogma, Phantoms (Da Bomb!), Good Will Hunting) and he's been bad in many things. Too many things to list here. But thanks to YouTube, I have a compilation at my hands.

If you think about it, everyone that has played Batman has been mediocre. It's up to the writers and director to make it happen. 

Michael Keaton was the only one that pulled it off, but that also is partly thanks to the amazing Gotham Tim Burton dreamed up and Jack Nicholson's Joker. 

I think the biggest issue I have with Ben Affleck is I'm not going to be able to see past Ben Affleck. I had the same issue with Cloony, even before I saw the Bat nipples or Arnold's first pun. 

With Christian Bale, Michael Keaton, and even Val Kilmer to an extent, I was able to forget who the actor was and just see Bruce Wayne/Batman. With Ben Affleck, I'm going to see the guy that blew up an asteroid and was engaged to Jennifer Lopez. 

It sucks for Ben. He truly loves comics and when you have someone like Chris Evens playing multiple heroes and he doesn't read comics, you hope for a little justice in the world. 

His best chance at making a superhero believable would've been Iron Man. He's good looking, rich, and had a drinking problem. But thanks to Robert Downy's insane performance, no one will ever be able to pull off a better Iron Man. Never. 

So I'll be in the theater, day one, to see Supes and Bats duke it out. 

I'll be there day one when this inevitably leads to Justice League. 

And if Ben makes it to his own Batman movie, I'll be there opening weekend as well. 

I sort of feel like this is going to usher in another revolving door of Batman actors like we did in the early 90's before Batman goes on another 10 year hiatus. DC has always had issues casting their superhero films. DC really should just hire Chris' to play every. They've had their best runs with Christopher Reeves, Chris Nolan, and Christian Bale.