Ben Affleck | Career Arc

Good Will Hunting 1997

Amanda's pick. The 'retainer' job-interview scene, not the tearjerker ending: the supporting wise-ass that launched the Damon-Affleck unit and the Best Original Screenplay win.

Chasing Amy 1997

Rob's and Sean's pick. Affleck carrying a clunky, badly-aged Kevin Smith movie for nearly two hours, rain confession and visible cameraman included.

Dazed and Confused 1993

O'Banion, the paddle-wielding bully. Early proof he had no problem playing a shithead.

School Ties 1992

One of the supporting parts he took just to break in.

Mallrats 1995

Shannon Hamilton, the villain bit part Rob calls one of the best of Affleck's career.

Armageddon 1998

Amanda's pinnacle (Rob floated it as a breakthrough too). Affleck accepting his blockbuster destiny: the moon-rover fumbling and singing 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' to Liv Tyler, ridiculous and half-winking, which is the good kind.

Boiler Room 2000

Rob's pinnacle. Peak asshole Affleck taking the Glengarry torch straight from Alec Baldwin: 'I am liquid.'

Gone Girl 2014

Rob's other pinnacle. Fincher weaponizing Affleck's blandly handsome self against him for two and a half hours; the shower scene lampoons Argo's.

The Town 2010

Sean's pinnacle. First time he plays the earnest lead and fully lands it while directing, in an unfussy, mean, Eastwood-flat heist movie.

Gone Baby Gone 2007

His directing debut; he stays behind the camera and puts brother Casey out front.

Argo 2012

Best Picture, no Best Director nod. Sharp and tense but oddly forgettable next to the 'marriage is hard' acceptance speech.

Shakespeare in Love 1998

Sarcastic, good, and supporting: the kind of role that suited him.

Pearl Harbor 2001

The Sum of All Fears 2002

A bland leading-man Jack Ryan.

Changing Lanes 2002

Not a bad movie, him and Samuel L. Jackson, but it landed at an awkward point in his stardom.

Daredevil 2003

The first time he played a superhero and failed.

Gigli 2003

Paycheck 2003

A literal manifestation of what was going on at the time.

Jersey Girl 2004

Hollywoodland 2006

The supposed serious comeback as George Reeves; Sean wants those hours back.

Runner Runner 2013

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 2016

The best thing about a movie he can't rescue.

Suicide Squad 2016

The Accountant 2016

Ridiculous, fun, objectively terrible, and, Rob argues, a high-degree-of-difficulty near-Gigli he somehow walks away from upright.

Live by Night 2016

His first directing job after Argo.

Justice League 2017

Joyless Batman, with no energy and no sign he can't wait to tell his kid about it.

200 Cigarettes 1999

Forces of Nature 1999

As Amanda puts it, we don't need to talk about it.

Dogma 1999

Triple Frontier 2019

J.C. Chandor's macho men-on-a-mission jungle heist. A paunchy, worn, cracking-voiced Affleck playing fading masculinity: the role that fits where he actually is.

The Last Thing He Wanted 2020

Dee Rees's Netflix Joan Didion adaptation, Anne Hathaway up front and Affleck in support: a wise step down from full-blown star.

The Way Back 2020

Then titled Torrance, a Gavin O'Connor reunion after The Accountant.