Top 5 Ben Affleck Performances

By Austin Johnson

The Way Back is something that I should be really excited for on paper, but I’m not going to raise my expectations too high. Basketball films are really hard to make and it looks like Ben Affleck’s character is going to be dealing with alcohol a lot. I’m definitely going to see it in theaters, because whether or not his career is that good, Ben Affleck just gets my attention. He’s not one of my favorites, but he’s been some sort of star ever since I started really watching films. His relevance is undeniable and I would like to list my 5 favorite performances of his 25 plus year career in honor of his new film, The Way Back.

5.) O'Bannion in Dazed and Confused (1993)

“You are an embarrassment to the game of pool and
should be glad I even let you play at my table.”

Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused is riddled with young, untapped talent, but the two guys that stand out nowadays are definitely Matthew McConaughey and Ben Affleck. McConaughey plays a laid-back cruiser named Wooderson while Affleck plays a wild card madman named O’Bannion. I love characters that are totally committed to their cause even if everyone around them doesn’t approve of the cause. O’Bannion just has to be a shit. There’s no other for him to be, so he writes Fah-Q on a paddle and tries to beat dudes up with it who are three years younger than him. He’s a real classic douche bag and Affleck honestly deserves more villainous roles like this. He’s got this figure that is pretty intimidating, especially to Mitch Kramer and company.

4.) Chuckie in Good Will Hunting (1997)

“So this is a Harvard bar, huh? I thought
there'd be equations and shit on the wall.”

Obviously, Good Will Hunting was the big break for Affleck and Damon as they won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and both went on to become movie stars. When I rewatch Good Will Hunting these days, I realize how good the entire cast is in every bit of the film. It moves with such an easy pace because those Robin Williams moments are so fucking sweet that the rest just falls into place. Ben kills it as Will’s best bud, Chuckie, who embodies the idea we all have of a tough Boston guy. He always looks great when he’s on a stoop or a roof just holding a beer, shooting the shit about how rough things are because he grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It’s believable because it’s true.

3.) Tony Mendez in Argo (2012)

“If you're detained for questioning, they will
bring in someone who knows that, yes.”

I don’t love Argo, but I like it and I think Affleck did a lot to make that film work. He directed it and starred as the main character, Tony Mendez. It was his third go at directing and definitely his most successful. Argo won Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards, beating Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty. Fascinating group of films right there. Tony Mendez was a real life extractor who was given the crazy mission of rescuing six Americans from the Canadian Embassy in Iran during the late 70’s. It’s an incredible story and Affleck literally changed his image by telling it and playing an American hero.

2.) Nick Dunne in Gone Girl (2014)

“Fuck. You're delusional. I mean, you're insane, why would you even want this? Yes, I loved you and then all we did was resent each other, try to control each other. We caused each other pain.”

Gone Girl is by far my favorite film that Affleck has ever appeared in. I adore Gillian Flynn’s novel of the same name, but David Fincher took it to the next level, as usual. By the time Gone Girl came out in theaters, I was already in love with all of Fincher’s stuff, so my expectations were high. Ben was in the middle of the best run of his career and he finally got a role that would prove he could work with one of the highest demanding directors in the game. Ben gave a performance that is so annoying and manipulative at times, but it’s his perspective that we are following, so we are on his side occasionally and then brutally upset with him two minutes later. It’s fucking riveting stuff. Exactly ten years before Affleck appeared in Gone Girl, he was in another film called Jersey Girl. Holy shit, he came a long way from '04 to '14.

1.) Doug MacRay in The Town (2010)

“I need your help. I can't tell you what it is, you can never
ask me about it later, and we're gonna hurt some people.”

The Town is one of my all time favorite heist films and it’s definitely the coolest one that Ben has directed. I’ve talked about how far Affleck has come legacy-wise, and I think it’s pretty clear that The Town is the turning point in his career. Before that he was on a run made up of a bunch of random roles that didn’t make sense for him. Gigli, Jersey Girl, Surviving Christmas, Man About Town, Smokin' Aces, Extract and the very worst of them all in 2009, He’s Just Not That Into You. Since 2010, Affleck has been in The Town, Argo, Gone Girl, The Accountant, Live by Night, Triple Frontier, and he was fucking Batman a couple times. Ben’s character in The Town, Doug MacRay feels like the perfect niche for Ben because it’s him. He grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is about three miles away from MacRay’s home in Charlestown. His accent is fucking awesome and the tracksuit is superb in The Town. Ben Affleck doesn’t have the most impressive resume, but he has a sort of honesty that makes his career fun to be a part of.