10 Established Actors Who Completely Failed At Being Action Stars
1. Ben Affleck
Attempts: Reindeer Games (2000), The Sum of All Fears (2002) Daredevil (2003), Paycheck (2003), Batman v Superman/Justice League (2016/2017), The Accountant (2016)
What made producers think the world wanted Ben Affleck as an action hero? Was it his remarkable paddle work in Dazed & Confused?
Whatever the reason, Hollywood has repeatedly tried to make that happen for Affleck, but each and every time the viewing public says "No thanks, we already have our Good Will Hunting action star" and collectively walks into whichever theater has Matt Damon stabbing people bad guys with pencils.
Affleck simply doesn't seem to have that "it" factor when it comes to the run-and-gun genre. Of all the Jack Ryans who've ever Jack Ryan-ed, his performance in The Sum of All Fears was the most underwhelming. Of all the Batmans who've ever Batman-ed, his is probably the least interesting. (At least Clooney had those Bat nipples to keep people's attention.)
There seems to be some sort of Poltergeist-ian curse hanging over the cast of Daredevil that keeps them from achieving success in these types of movies. But at least Affleck momentarily broke the hex for his Jason Bourne-aping role in the excellent-if-underrated The Accountant. It may, however, be too little too late.