The reviews for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice have been heavily mixed. It seems that most movie critics downright hated the movie, while some comic book fans absolutely loved it. (Read our review here: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: A Spoiler-Free Review) I, for one, am part of the latter and my heart broke when I saw that interview of Ben Affleck looking super sad about the reviews of his first movie as the Batman. See, I absolutely loved Ben Affleck in the role. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that he is my favorite movie Batman thus far. Here’s why.
For starters, Ben looks great in both the roles of Bruce Wayne and of Batman. He suits the roles and his batsuits suit him. In fact, the batsuits look GREAT on Ben, and the armored suit? Perfection! I loved the bulk, I loved the armour, I loved the Batmobile scenes, I loved Ben’s jaw in the cowl, and I loved his height. (Fun fact: at 6’4″, Ben Affleck is the tallest Batman to date. He is even taller than comic book Batman, who is 6’2″.)
That aside, I also loved how BvS showed a few scenes of Bruce Wayne working out in a way that you would actually imagine him working out. I feel like some people don’t fully comprehend how Batman can be so strong when fighting bad guys and here, we get a good glimpse of how he preps for that. While Ben may not have had the same determination as Christian Bale did when he was working out in The Dark Knight Rises, it is quite easy to believe that Ben Affleck could kick anyone’s ass when in the costume. In fact, even if he didn’t use any cool gadgets in BvS (he does, of course – don’t worry), I would believe he could win any fight thrown his way. I would also believe that people wouldn’t know who he is in the batsuit because Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne and Ben Affleck’s Batman were two different personas.
Then there’s the batvoice. I always found Christian Bale’s batvoice to be a bit over-the-top, so it was nice to see a brief explanation on the mechanisms of Batfleck’s cowl to see how his voice changed. Also, I understood everything he said despite the lower batvoice without having to ask my seatmates for translations. I still watch the Christian Bale trilogy with subtitles, by the way.
BvS is loosely based on The Dark Knight Returns comic book and I have to say that Ben portrays the Bruce Wayne in that comic book pretty well. While he isn’t retired yet like he is in the novel, he is clearly an older version of the younger, playboy Bruce Wayne that Christian Bale has portrayed in the previous Christopher Nolan movies. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy seeing movie superheroes without any ladies in tow. While there were definitely moments where I secretly hoped for a Wonder Woman and Batman tryst in BvS, I was perfectly happy seeing Bruce Wayne as purely Bruce Wayne – no James Bond vibe and no love strings attached.
In a nutshell, Batfleck seems more serious and more in tune with himself as the loner that he has become after everything that he has had to go through in the past. In BvS, Bruce isn’t worried about any love interest. Instead, he focuses more on the pain that has come with his past, his parents, his losses, and the superhero tendencies to save his town and the people in it. I really liked that about the movie.
I think the main problem with BvS is that the script wasn’t that well-written and some of the other characters were miscast, but even that didn’t deter me from stating that Ben is my new favorite Batman. Batfleck is an interesting character and my faith in him didn’t waver at any single moment during the movie. I would truly love to see a solo movie with Ben Affleck as Batman and would love to see him cast as Batman for more movies to come.
So, Ben, fear not. While I did have some problems with the movie, you definitely weren’t one of them. Even if BvS ultimately flops (which I highly doubt it will, anyway), rest well knowing that some people thought you did a good job. You are Daredevil no more. 🙂
What are your thoughts on Ben Affleck as Batman/Bruce Wayne? Share them with us!
