Who knew I’d one day hope Ben Affleck was lying to me?
In an interview with the Associated Press, Ben Affleck demonstrated a remarkable ignorance about what made Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice such a horrible movie. He also found whole new ways to distort the word “interesting,” bending it into dastardly new shapes.
“It’s interesting. It was a huge hit movie. So many more people went to see that than any movie I’ve made in my career. It was the biggest hit of my career. And then it had so much editorial negativity.”
There’s very little interesting about a marketing juggernaut making money and critical consensus doesn’t correlate with box office (as studios know well).
Affleck went on to make an argument that the main problem with BvS was one of tone:
“Fans went. And I got a lot of positive response. It was interesting, that movie, because it was judged not necessarily on execution so much as, like, it’s tone. People seemed to want to have a lighter tone to the movie and I thought that was interesting because that’s so subjective. Tone is not a qualitative thing. It’s subjective, right? Some tones resonate with me that might not with you. And the tone of the movie was really parallel to the Frank Miller book, which I liked and thought was great.”
“Interesting” Count: 3
Affleck, whose 2012 movie Argo won the Oscar for Best Picture, must know a little more about storytelling and filmmaking than he’s letting on in this interview. There’s so much more wrong with Batman v Superman than just tone (and it’s odd to have a director argue that the subjectivity of tone somehow makes it outside the storyteller’s purview… most elements of art have a degree of subjectivity). The characters are dour idiots, with a Superman that sounds exactly like Batman, completely failing at building a contrast between the two that could generate conflict. But I have to stop myself… we’re not here to rehash everything stupid about BvS.
Instead, let’s hope that Affleck’s mealy-mouthed defense of Batman v Superman is more about inter-office politics down on the Warner Bros. lot than it is about what he feels inside or what he’ll bring to his Batman movie, The Batman.
Affleck’s tone-centric defense of Batman v Superman better not indicate Warner Bros.’ internal opinion of the movie either. If they think the same kind of wretched script and lazy plotting will work, just with a lighter tone, then Justice League may be in trouble. Hopefully Warner Bros. has had some frank discussions about just how terrible Batman v Superman (and Suicide Squad) turned out and aren’t telling these same lies to themselves.
