Ben Affleck’s inability to find meaningful characterization with beloved characters is a testament for his lack of ability.

With a wealth of well-known source material, Bruce Wayne finds himself at the top of many comic fans’ list of favorite superheroes. Even if he is not a favorite, most will concede that his stories are interesting, and the duality of Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy with the brooding Dark Knight make the character quite compelling. Similarly to Bruce Wayne, Matt Murdock’s origin is rife with tragedy, and both characters end up relying on death-defying acrobatics to carry out their heroic deeds. Both characters are impossibly deep, and the chance to portray these men in a live-action medium would be coveted by most actors, yet acclaimed actor Ben Affleck has spectacularly failed to bring life to either character.

Many will like to make excuses for Ben Affleck’s lackluster portrayals of Wayne and Murdock, blaming bad scripts for both Daredevil and Batman vs. Superman, but the fact of the matter is Affleck failed to introduce any dimensionality whatsoever to these characters. Even battling horrific scripts and lackluster (or complete lack of) plotlines, Murdock and Wayne should always be compelling characters, but by casting Affleck, we’ve gotten lifeless cardboard portrayals of two beloved superheroes.

In Batman vs. Superman, standing on set seems to be a challenge for Affleck, as his emotionless expression coupled with delivery of lines devoid of any interpretation are just thrust upon us. Affleck is not buying into the character, and the audience suffers.

With Daredevil, there’s a lot going on. Costuming choices were unkind to Affleck, and a convoluted plot with poor execution of special effects were certainly working against him, but a great actor would’ve been able to move the audience to care somewhat.

I now wonder: are these movies really as bad as I remember, or was it that they simply never stood a chance from the moment they cast Affleck?

By: Dan Burkett

@DanielBurkett