Ben Affleck as BATMAN? Rufus Sewell for your consideration

THE CAPED CRUSADER AND HIS CHASING AMY FIXATION

By Jerry Saravia

 I am so happy to now have been the only actor to play Superman and Batman

Ben Affleck never struck me as an incredibly charismatic actor, not in almost everything I've seen him do post-1990's. Affleck scored his finest performance ever in Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy," a wonderfully humanistic performance with a fine reading of regret in his eyes when he did not (SPOILER ALERT!) get the girl. He had a bouncy comical part as an actor in "Shakespeare in Love," a nicely modulated role as a fellow Bostonian pal of Will Hunting in "Good Will Hunting," and he was tremendous and energetic as he parroted Alec Baldwin's scenery-chewing part from "Glengarry Glen Ross" in the otherwise underwhelming "Boiler Room." Then came tepid disasters with even more tepid performances in films such as "Gigli,' "Daredevil," "Surviving Christmas" (if you can make it past the first 10 minutes), "Reindeer Games" and so on ("Jersey Girl", by the way, is not as bad as its reputed to be). He has since proved himself as a film director, but not as an actor (he has actorly limits unlike his writing partner from the days of "Good Will Hunting," Matt Damon).

Warner Brothers made an announcement that Ben Affleck will play Batman in the "Man of Steel" sequel, "Batman vs. Superman." Only problem is that Affleck has a similarly identical body and similar facial, suave features as Henry Cavill, who of course will return as Superman (Man of Steel review). Nobody believe me? Do people forget that Affleck played the role of the late actor George Reeves in the film "Hollywoodland" (Reeves being the actor who played Superman in the live action series of yesteryear)? Something tells me that Christian Bale (who played the best Batman and Bruce Wayne roles) would've been more an apt choice or he might have been offered and declined (his price tag according to undetermined sources would have been 50 million dollars!) At this stage of the game, it is hard to say who could have played Batman but somebody should have chosen an actor who did not look like a duplicate of Henry Cavill - there has to be some contrast. I would have gone with Rufus Sewell myself, or maybe Bruce Campbell (now that would have been interesting).

Rufus Sewell as the Caped Crusader?

Rufus Sewell would have made a reflective contrast to Cavill's Superman. Anybody ever seen the highly underrated masterpiece, "Dark City"? Sewell went nuts as he tried to find out his identity in a world that was not what it seemed. And let's face it: any man who wears a Bat suit and parades at night in search of criminals has go to be, how can I put this, Bat-shit crazy? Sewell has eyes that bulge and that can be deeply serene and he shows his dark side beautifully, especially in "Dark City." There is something unsettling about him and that is what Batman needs from an actor (just like Christian Bale who showed the arrogance of Bruce Wayne and the fierceness of Batman).

But a lot of us may have to pause for reflection. When Michael Keaton was announced as the newest Batman in the Tim Burton film of 20-plus years ago, outrage was rampant amongst comic-book fans. The guy from "Mr. Mom" and "Beetlejuice" is going to play the Caped Crusader? I don't how many fans even care anymore when some of the most ardent fans even prefer Tim Burton's film over Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. So let's not write Affleck off completely, but let us pause for reflection and, yes, some momentary regret they didn't choose someone else.