There wasn’t a whole lot of accounting in The Accountant 2. I’m thinking we should feel grateful – geez, Jim, how much accounting did you want there to be? Much like the first film in this series, we find The Accountant settles scores more often than not with bullets than with pencil and paper. And this time around, I’m not even sure I saw pencil or paper. Account for that.
I’m not sure it’s an honest effort, but the film went out of its way to re-establish the character of Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) by introducing him this time around as a player in a “Dating Rodeo.” Using algorithms and scientific study, Christian has rigged the room so that all the females flock to him first. (You see, that’s how good his “accountant” skill-set is.) And then, our hero introduces the women to his straight-forward autistic side, and -for some reason- every one of them is turned off.
Ha ha.
This doesn’t really work, now, does it? First, why would a person like Christian -who only finds human comfort in the form of family- want to date in the first place? And -more importantly- what makes you think all the women would be turned off by the one guy in the room who can get their hearts racing? You think they’re honestly going to be turned off by a little autism? You don’t attend a “Dating Rodeo” because “Mr. Right” is married; this scene requires a little more desperation than that.
But I digress.
The Accountant 2 focuses less on the sheltered and somehow dominant character of The Accountant, and more on the relationship between he and his younger brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) … who, like The Accountant, is also an assassin. Well, that’s not quite fair; Braxton is definitely an assassin; Christian launders money for mobsters and takes bad guys out on the side. Assassination is really more of a hobby.
In the non-Accountant world, a different assassin (Daniella Pineda) is being hunted, and when she escapes being hunted, a dead J.K. Simmons leaves a message imploring his protégé to “find the accountant.” Cuz, you know, these guys all have life-and-death asset management and liquidity issues, I’m guessing.
I have an accountant; he helps me file taxes. Never once have I asked him to hunt mobsters, assassinate drug lords, or bleed pimps for leads. I must be doing this wrong.
When the protégé (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) and The Accountant realize that a bit more muscle might be needed here, Christian summons his estranged brother to assist with shakedowns and bulletry. This is all an excuse to get the film to a place where we observe the
interaction between Christian and Braxton, which -despite their aggressive natures- is worth the plot contortion.
Much of this film is confusing, plot-wise. There are a few leaps in logic here so grand that I wanted a “STOP” button. The film knows this and, hence, behaves like a scofflaw at an empty intersection. If you just run the reds and get to the car chase, there isn’t much time to consider whether or not logic had been applied. But, but, but logic drives The Accountant. I’ve seen it. Oh well.
The titular character might just represent Ben Affleck’s best acting of his career. I’m not sure how to feel about that, exactly. Yeah, the man owns two Oscars, but nobody is gonna give him one for acting. ‘Nuff said. The Accountant 2 is uneven and doesn’t really overcome its flaws so much as bulldozes them. In a way, it’s like a throwback to Schwarzenegger films of another era where so long as bad guys died, the film was OK. And on that score, I’ll give it a mild thumbs up.
Once there was an accountant named Chris
Whose autism you could never dismiss
His skills got a pass
Taking numbers, kicking ass
Assassin? Pfft. Auditing is this guy’s :Chef’s kiss:
Rated R, 132 Minute
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Writer: Bill Dubuque
Genre: The fun with autism, 2
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Brothers
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Pimps
