Throughout his career, Ben Affleck has been a lot of things. He’s been a writer, an actor and a producer. Affleck has been Matt Damon’s best buddy, Jennifer Garner’s hot hubby and Kevin Smith’s Bat brother. Affleck has appeared in dozens of movies, all of which met various degrees of success. He’s been Daredevil and Batman. He’s been an angel and an agent and a gangster. Ben Affleck has, seemingly, done it all. If he wanted to simply rest on his laurels as an actor, he would still go down as one of the greatest of all time. But that wasn’t enough for Benjamin. Affleck wanted to ply his trade as a director as well. None of the films Affleck directed were bad. Some of them were even exceptional. With that being said, we ranked all of the films directed by Ben Affleck. How ‘bout them apples?
5) I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal (1993)
With a tile like that, how could this film be anything BUT awesome? I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal (or, IKMLWHHOAMHANIHATPD for short) was a satirical look at, well, we’re not sure. It told the story of a director who was casting the lead actress for his first film. While doing so, he also kept his wife on a meat hook. That’s pretty much it. It was bad. But don’t just take our word for it. Affleck himself stated that “It’s horrible. It’s atrocious. I knew I wanted to be a director and I did a couple of short films, and this is the only one that haunts me. I’m not proud of it. It looks like it was made by someone who has no prospects, no promise.”
4) Live By Night (2016)
One would think that a 20’s-era gangster movie directed by Ben Affleck, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and adapted from a popular novel, would work like gangbusters (heh.) Unfortunately, that was not the case. Live by Night was about the son of a superintendent for the Boston Police Department, who has defied his father and become a gangster in the prohibition era. His name was Joe Coughlin and he didn’t play by the extremely defined rules of gangster etiquette. In fact, he spits in the face of the rules. Live by Night was a fine film. It had great visuals, solid acting, and a decent script. It was just, well, kind of boring.
3) Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Gone Baby Gone (not to be confused with Gone Girl) told the story of Patrick Kenzie as he investigated the disappearance of a young girl. Kenzie was a private detective who was a master of his craft, but the girl had already been missing for more than 76 hours. Regular viewers of crime television know that if somebody isn’t found within the first 48 hours, they probably won’t be found period. That wasn’t good enough for Kenzie, though. He was determined to find the girl, despite threats from various townies and neighbors that have known the local Boston boy all his life. Gone Baby Gone was awesome. It showed just how much potential Affleck had as both a writer and a director.
2) The Town (2010)
The Town focuses on a group of ruthless bank robbers who only look out for themselves. That is, except for Doug MacRay (Affleck) and an extremely temperamental individual named James (Jeremy Renner). Doug and James are best friends, even like brothers. They know they will always be there for each other, through thick and thin. But, when a robbery goes bad and James briefly takes a hostage, everything changes. The hostage is released but Doug finds out she’s from the same neighborhood he’s from. He seeks her out to find just how much she knows and, in doing so, ends up falling in love with her. Now, Doug must balance his life as a ruthless criminal and a boy in love, all while an F.B.I Agent (played by Jon Hamm) is hot on his tails.
1) Argo (2012)
Argo was an incredible true story about an extractor named Tony Mendez who is tasked with rescuing six American refugees from Iran. In order to do so, Mendez poses as a film director who is using “scouting locations,” as escape plans and the refugees themselves as his “film crew.” If it sounds like an insane premise, you’re right. It is. But it’s so damn good. Argo won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and it’s easy to see why. The acting was top-notch. The script was beautiful. And the direction was picture perfect.
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