Ben Affleck has played Batman in the same number of movies as Christian Bale and been nominated for nearly as many Oscars, but his stint as the Dark Knight is most fondly associated with inspiring the “Sad Affleck” meme. Meanwhile, Bale is often ranked at the top of “best Batman” lists. That has as much to do with the quality of the films Affleck’s in, including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as much as his performances in them, which is why Kevin Smith thinks the Batfleck’s Dark Knight has been “unfairly maligned.”
During a recent episode of his Fat Man on Batman podcast, Smith, who worked with the Gone Girl star in his pre-Good Will Hunting days on Mallrats and Chasing Amy (the two are no longer chummy), defended Affleck, who, as he pointed out, was actually praised by critics when Dawn of Justice came out.
“If you think back to when Batman v Superman came out, he was the one that actually skated, he got a lot of f*cking praise. There were people going, ‘This movie’s got a lot of issues – ironically, Affleck as Batman is not one of them.’ That was my recollection of peoples’ reaction to BvS. They had issues with the tone and the darkness and sh*t like that, but he was the one thing that most people agreed was really good in the movie.”
It’s nice of the jorts enthusiast to follow every mom’s adage, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” (every mom is, of course named Martha). Smith also said that “in a world without Christian Bale’s performance to judge it against, most people wouldn’t be as sh*tty about Ben’s Batman.”
You can watch the live podcast below.
(Via ScreenRant)