Spoilers!
The Accountant (2016) was a fantastic film I somehow missed back when it first dropped. Ben Affleck and my boy Jon Bernthal were fantastic, and albeit, in a small role, Anna Kendrick is always lovely. Great action sequences, dry humor, and even a semblance of heart to go along with the action and drama made for a great viewing experience last night. If there is a criticism to be had, I’m not entirely sure what they intended Affleck’s character, the titular accountant, with the pseudonym of Christina Wolff, to be: criminal who turned good, or someone who was always doing good by infiltrating criminal organizations and giving them up to the federal government, but he also still acted as a vigilante and killed people? In the sequel, The Accountant 2, it’s made clearer that he’s the latter. Just as good in action and heart as the first, but with even more dry humor, The Accountant 2 may have actually improved on its first outing.
Set eight-ish years after the first one, the sequel brings back all the major characters in front of and behind the camera, including the aforementioned Affleck and Bernthal (he gets a much bigger role, thankfully!), as well as Gavin O’Connor returning as director and Bill Dubuque as writer. J.K. Simmons, who plays Raymond King, the former director of FinCEN, the Treasury Department’s bureau targeting money laundering and other financial crimes, is killed early in the film. It’s not clear by whom, but it’s what brings his mentee, if you will, Medina (played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson), now deputy director of FinCEN, into the fold, along with Wolff. Wolff is autistic, but trained like Batman in hand-to-hand combat and use of weapons. His younger brother, Braxton (Bernthal), is also similarly trained, but is a mercenary. Wolff asks for Braxton’s help on the case, despite not having talked to him in the intervening eight years between the events of both films. The heart of the film is the interplay (and great chemistry) between Wolff and Braxton. Braxton loves his brother, but is insecure about whether it’s requited or not. In other words, he asks at one point whether Wolff’s “condition” is the issue or if there’s something wrong with himself as to why Wolff doesn’t keep in touch. Wolff said he is who he is. But he clearly loves his brother, just in his own way! My first of only two criticisms of the film is that I would have loved to have seen the brothers fighting together in hand-to-hand combat, not just gunplay.
What’s going on with King’s murder and otherwise is that men, women, and children are being trafficked to Mexico for money and anyone in the way of that is being killed or targeted. One of the mothers of a boy kidnapped is nearly killed when she’s targeted, but it actually results in what they call “acquired savant syndrome.” [This actually seems like a rare, albeit exceedingly rare phenomenon.] It makes her like a lethal Batman and also erases her memories. She’s a killing machine. In fact, she nearly kills Medina until she sees the photo of herself with her now-dead husband and kidnapped son. It jogs loose at least the memory of the tune the American behind it all was whistling. She later presumably kills him off-screen, which is my second of two criticisms: He’s the big bad! Kill him on screen!
Wolff and Braxton travel to Mexico to rescue all the children in a classic cartel shootout in the dusty streets of Mexico before the American and his henchmen can kill all the children in a pit. Yes. Of course, they save the day and rescue the children. The scene after might even be better because Braxton finds an orange kitten to take home and it’s so goofy and adorable. Wolff said he seemed like more of a cat person than a dog person given his “work” as a contract killer. They tied the loop on that story thread then. Braxton’s frustrated when the rescued kid, who Wolff believes may be autistic like him, is hogging the cat. Bernthal is the best!
I had a great time finally seeing The Accountant last night and then The Accountant 2 in theaters today. Fans of any Jason Statham film or the John Wick series will surely have a good time with these two films, with a potential third on the way. And I really can’t do justice to the dry humor. You just have to see it, like Affleck’s character square dancing with cowboys to impress a cowgirl. Or when he runs over a henchmen to save Wolff and beeps the horn. Or Bernthal being Bernthal. That’s what especially makes these films different from Statham’s or the John Wick films. I also think Affleck’s commitment to the character helps. You don’t see Affleck, which is a testament to his work. So yeah, bring on the third film, please and thank you!
Milam's Musings 