Comparing Ben Affleck’s ‘Animals’ to ‘Argo’: Why the Netflix Thriller Represents a Directorial Slump

Ben Affleck’s sixth feature film as a director, the Netflix thriller Animals, arrived on the platform October 9, 2026, to a reception that marks a significant departure from his Oscar-winning peak. While Affleck has long been celebrated for his transition into a respected auteur with films like Argo and The Town, Animals currently holds a 41% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 31 on Metacritic, positioning it as the lowest-rated project of his directorial career.

The kidnapping drama follows Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball, played by Affleck, and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) as they navigate a $7 million ransom demand for their son. The premise forces the family to confront political secrets and moral dilemmas, yet the execution has been labeled by some critics as his weakest effort to date, citing a lack of the narrative coherence found in his earlier work.

A specific sequence involving a child's wagon has become a focal point of viewer discussion and social media critique.

Production Delays and Casting Shifts

The project’s path to the screen was marked by significant changes in personnel and timing. Animals was originally delayed to 2025 and eventually 2026 due to rights issues, which ultimately led to a change in the lead actor. Matt Damon was originally intended to star as Mark Kimball but exited the project to film Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Affleck, who also co-wrote the script, stepped into the lead role following Damon’s departure.

The film’s supporting cast also saw adjustments during the development phase. Kerry Washington took over the role of Abigail Kimball after Jennifer Garner dropped out of the project.

The ‘Wagon Scene’ and Social Media Backlash

A specific sequence in Animals has overshadowed much of the film’s political tension. Following its premiere, a physics-defying moment involving a child in a wagon has gone viral. In the scene, the wagon rolls down a hill and flies across a canal before Affleck’s character catches it. This sequence has been widely mocked on social media, with critics at The Guardian and other outlets citing it as a distraction from the film’s stakes.

When stacked against his previous directorial efforts, Animals sits at the bottom of a filmography that once seemed on an upward trajectory. After the success of Gone Baby Gone (2007) and the Best Picture-winning Argo (2012), Affleck faced a dip with 2016’s Live by Night. He appeared to reclaim his standing with the 2023 biographical drama Air, but the critical failure of Animals has sparked discussion on whether this project is a singular misstep or a sign of a shifting directorial style.

While some viewers have described the film as a functional weekend watch, the consensus among major critics suggests that the film’s reliance on viral-ready spectacle over grounded tension has alienated the audience that previously championed Affleck as a top-tier director.

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