Ben Affleckhas taken on many roles in his more than 40-year career. He’s been acting since he was a child and played somememorable roles in his teensbefore graduating to more sophisticated roles as an adult. If polling an audience, there might be 10 different roles that people think of when they are askedwhat role comes to mindwhen his name comes up. He’s done a good job of diversifying his roles and playing many different characters.
FromSchool TiestoChasing AmytoDaredeviltoGigli, he’s spanned genres and given solid performances throughout. One genre that he has excelled in isthrillers. Not all of them would be considered shoot-em-up movies either. He has built a good reputation as an actor who can lead or play a supporting role in thrillers.
WithThe Accountant 2currently in theaters andreceiving massive praise, it’s time to take a look at Ben Affleck’s greatest thrillers.
10’Reindeer Games' (2000)
Reindeer Games
AfterGood Will Hunting, which won him an Oscar, Affleck’s profile skyrocketed in Hollywood. He starred in romantic comedies, blockbusters, ensemble casts, and Oscar winners in the next few years. One of those attempted blockbusters wasReindeer Games, a 2000 venture directed by John Frankenheimer and co-starring Charlize Theron. A case of stolen identities leads to Affleck’s ex-convict character getting caught up in a casino robbery.
It has an absurd plot and the action is played up by gun battles and some explosions. The movie also features a who’s who of supporting characters with Danny Trejo, Donal Logue, Isaac Hayes, Clarence Williams III, Dennis Farina, and Gary Sinise. Itflopped at the box office, making $32M on a $42M budget.
9’Paycheck' (2003)
2003 was an incredibly interesting year for Affleck. He starred inDaredevil, playing the blind crime fighter Matt Murdock, which wouldnot be the last time he played a superhero. He also starred in the box office bombGigli, widely recognized as one of the worst movies of its time with a 6% on Rotten Tomatoes. A somewhat overlooked movie he starred in wasPaycheck,which came from famed director John Woo. Affleck stars as a reverse engineer who creates projects for companies and then has his memory wiped so he doesn’t remember them.
After completing a project for Aaron Eckhart’s character’s company, he awakens from his memory wipe to find a random envelope of things in his possession and a crew of bad guys chasing him. He must use the envelope to piece together the mystery of why men are after him. It’s a sleek thrillerinspired by a Philip K. Dick storythat also stars Uma Thurman. The movie wasn’t a huge hit with critics but did well at the box office, earning $117 million.
8’Changing Lanes' (2002)
Changing Lanes
Changing Lanespaired Affleck with Samuel L. Jackson as two men who get into a fender bender and seek to destroy each other’s lives following the accident. Affleck’s character leaves the scene of the accident and both men end up entangled in each other’s lives in a revenge plot. This is far from a heavy-handed action movie but features tense scenes and good acting from the two leads.
Jackson, who isno stranger to thrillers himself, portrays his character as down-on-his-luck, remorseful about his life choices, but also feeling wronged by society. Affleck plays a young hotshot lawyer consumed by work. The movie was a hit with critics more than it was with fans, but it did earn nearly $95 million at the box office.
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7’Armageddon' (1998)
Armageddon
Armageddonwas a peak summer blockbuster that was released over Fourth of July weekend in 1998. It absolutely raked in the dough, earning $553M at the box office. It featured Affleck, Bruce Willis, and a number of other actors playing oil drillers who NASA commissions to travel to space to land on an asteroid and destroy it before it destroys the Earth. The movie has a popcorn movie feel with big action sequences and funny and emotional dialogue.
Directed by Michael Bay, it’s a movie most people have either seen, are aware of, or have at least scrolled past it on cable. The supporting cast for the two main stars is also impressive. Steve Buscemi, Owen Wilson, Will Patton, Michael Clarke Duncan, Peter Stormare, William Fichtner, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Isaacs, and Liv Tyler all have notable roles. Arguably, the best thing about this entire movie isAffleck’s DVD commentary, which has become the stuff of legend.
6’The Sum of All Fears' (2002)
The Sum Of All Fears
The fourth film that featured Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,The Sum of All Fearsfeatured Affleck in the role of the CIA analyst. It is a political thriller that sees Ryan trying to de-escalate growing tensions to stop a war. Russia’s President is killed and a bomb is set off in the U.S., killing thousands. Someone behind the scenes is orchestrating it all, trying to make it look like Russia and the U.S. are about to start a war with each other.
Morgan Freeman, Liev Schreiber, and Bridget Moynahan have supporting roles in the cast. Affleck portrays Ryan as incredibly smart and dedicated to his government. Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford portrayed Ryan before him, and Chris Pine and John Krasinski have played the character since the film. The moviewas met with middling reviewsby critics and audiences.
5’The Accountant 2' (2025)
The Accountant 2
Rather than pick both movies in the series, it was important to pick the one withthe better Rotten Tomatoes score.The Accountant 2has a 76% score from critics and a 92% score from audiences. People have been really enjoying the sequel, which features a lot more violence and shooting than the original one. The first film centers around Affleck’s Christian Wolff, an autistic accountant who audits the books of wealthy people and their companies to hide improprieties and money laundering.
The movie ended up being a sneaky hit, grossing $155 million at the box office, and produced a sequel, which dives more into the relationship between Christian and his brother Braxton, played by Jon Bernthal.The Accountant 2has been marketed as a violent thriller with Affleck and Bernthal going toe-to-toe in gun battles against enemies.
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4’Triple Frontier' (2019)
Triple Frontier
A well-crafted thriller about former U.S. special forces operatives teaming up for a heist,Triple Frontierwas a Netflix movie that was released in 2019. Directed by J.C. Chandor and written by Chandor and Mark Boal, the movie featured a cast of well-known leading men all making up the special forces team. Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund,and Pedro Pascal starin this tense thriller.
The movie has some insane shootouts and was filmed in Hawaii, which was used in place of Colombia. The locales are exotic, and the action is high. While these guys may not have good intentions on their minds, they are incredibly entertaining to watch as they try and take back some dignity as well as steal a lot of money.
3’Argo' (2012)
Another movie where Affleck plays a CIA operative,Argois arguably his finest directorial job as well. The movie is based on a true story about a CIA operative who infiltrates Tehran to rescue kidnapped embassy workers by pretending to be a film crew. This hostage thriller is incredibly taut, with a lot of tense scenes, but also has some good humor, mainly provided by Alan Arkin and John Goodman’s characters.
Critics and fans lauded Affleck’s star turn and his work behind the camera. The film grossed $232 million at the box office and won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film has a very real sense to it, as it transports the audience into the rooms with the hostages. Thepolitical thriller is smartly craftedand worth a rewatch.
2’Gone Girl' (2014)
When the book was released, people were enthralled by it and wondered how quickly Hollywood would scoop up the rights to make a film based on it. WhenGone Girlcame out, it was a movie people couldn’t stop talking about. It made $370M at the box office, thebiggest movie of David Fincher’s career.Gone Girlis a two-hander, with Affleck starring as Nick Dunne and Rosamund Pike playing his wife, Amy.
Amy goes missing, and everyone thinks Nick had something to do with it. The movie goes back and forth between Nick’s narrative and Amy’s, similar to how Gillian Flynn’s book does. Affleck excelled as Nick, who feels both grief-stricken but also manipulated as he knows what his wife is capable of. But nothing tops Pike’s performance, who audiences can’t take their eyes off. This movie is tense, sexy, and downright diabolical.
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1’The Town' (2010)
Another movie that Affleck both starred in and directed,The Townis a quintessential crime thriller that features one of the wildest third acts in the past 20 years. It features Affleck as Doug MacRay, a Boston bank robber who starts a relationship with a bank teller involved in one of his crew’s heists. Jeremy Renner is electric as his friend, Jem, who is a part of his crew and is arguably the most loyal friend shown on screens in recent memory.
The film basically uses Boston as a character, as everything about the movie breathes Massachusetts.The Townmakes you understand more about the makeup of the city, the different neighborhoods, and the people who are from there. The movie culminates in a scene set in Fenway Park that isan all-timer for heist movies.The Townearned a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score and made $154M at the box office.
