Comic Book Movies

So, unless you live under a rock, you no doubt know that they have cast Ben Affleck as Batman for the Man of Steel sequel. Suffice to say, I’m not all that happy about this. I feel that, while Ben is a competent actor, he has no heroic screen presence, in my eyes. And every time he has tried to do “intense” it comes across as fake and just silly. To me, this precludes him from being a passable Batman, arguably the most intense mainstream comic book character this side of Frank Castle.

I would have much preferred Scott Adkins. As the founder of the Facebook group supporting his bid for the role pointed out, who better to play the DC world’s most competent martial artist than someone who is one of real the world’s most competent martial artists? Had Scott been cast, he would be the first martial artist to play Batman. And if you have ever watched any of his movies, he is a very good actor. At least as good as Ben, if not better.

But, what’s done is done. As I have not watched Man of Steel yet, I can no doubt wait for the sequel to hit NetFlix as well.

I have to say, the DC live-action movies have all been somewhat disappointing in presentation, after the original Batman and Batman Returns (1989, 1992) and Superman I & II (1978, 1980). Even Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, which were both good, had serious problems.

They are formulaic at their core. You get your origin story, then you get the standard villains; Lex for Supes, and Joker for Bats. And when they try to deviate from them, the films start to suck. This gives the studio execs (who are obviously certifiable morons) the false sense that for a Batman movie to work, it has to have the Joker, and for a Superman movie to work, it has to have Lex Luthor.

Both characters have such large rogues galleries, can’t they mine them for other villains? And can’t we start working on other DC characters? Where’s my Wonder Woman movie? Martian Manhunter? Hell, I’d even take a well-done Aquaman movie.

Meh, all of that being said, I’m still a Marvel guy. And in that arena, I am very happy. But, sometimes I feel sorry for my DC cousins. They can’t seem to get a fair shake in the live-action arena.

I can’t stand that guy!

So, I was reading a review of the Director’s Cut of Daredevil (2003) over at The Action Elite, and I was reminded that I can’t stand Ben Affleck. Honestly, I can’t really explain why, there’s just something about him that I find annoying. I mean, he’s a decent actor, apparently a pretty good director, and he’s almost exactly my age. He likes comic books (hence his enthusiasm to play ol’ Hornhead), and is pretty funny in most of his Kevin Smith movie roles (especially Mallrats). So, really, I should like him.

But, I don’t.

Maybe it’s his teeth. They are too small for his mouth, and his gums are too big. I find that to be a really weird trait on anyone. I’m kind of bizarre, I know.

All that being said, I won’t avoid a good movie just because he’s in it. I liked Daredevil a lot. And really, he was my only quibble about the movie (well him, and the fact that Colin Farrell, whom I love to watch, kind of overplayed Bullseye a bit too much). The defining scene that illustrates why he was just wrong for the part was the playground fight. Maybe if it had been better choreographed, or better-written, or even just cut out all together, it wouldn’t be so bad. But that scene just takes me out of the whole fantasy. I didn’t believe for one second that Ben was blind, nor that he knew how to actually fight.

I remember when that movie was in development. It was originally offered to Ben’s childhood friend, and often-times collaborator, Matt Damon. But he turned it down (for reasons I don’t recall), so they offered it to Ben. Oh, Matt. You would have been so much better.

I do have to say that I liked the DD costume. Even though it’s part of the “leather stands in for spandex” trend (which I believe was actually started with the Hasslehoff classic TV movie, Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD), it works. I even saw a few people wearing a version of that at Wizard World.

Over all, I really like that movie, and based on the review I read, I want to see the Director’s Cut. Apparently Michael Clark Duncan (may he RIP), whom I LOVED as the re-imagined Kingpin, really steals the movie with the cut scenes.  Hmmm…I have six days off coming up…   So, anyways, is there an actor that you just can't stand?  I have a friend who hates Ben Stiller so much that he will actually avoid watching movies he's in.  I'm not that psychotic about Ben.