- Director: Gavin O’Connor
- Screenplay: Bill Dubuque
- Cast: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, J.K. Simmons
- Cinematography: Seamus McGarvey
- Editing: Richard Pearson
- Score: Bryce Dessner
- Genre: Action thriller
- Runtime: 132 minutes
Christian Wolff returns. Or Carl Gauss, Charles Babbage, Lewis Carroll…whichever mathematically-based pseudonym he chooses to operate under. He’s the titular ‘Accountant’, an autistic numbers whiz who undertakes ‘creative accounting’ for some unsavoury characters. This sequel, set 8 years later, sees Wolff (Ben Affleck) do far less equations; this feels like more of an out-and-out action thriller than the previous film. Also returning is Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), a United States Treasury agent whose former boss Ray King (J.K. Simmons) is unceremoniously killed off in the first five minutes, prompting a mystery to solve concerning a missing child.
Together with Wolff’s estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) – the pair reunited after yet another lengthy period of time with zero communication – they become involved with drug cartels and human traffickers. Plot-wise, it’s a bit of a muddle but the highlight is the brothers’ sparky chemistry – Bernthal the hot-head while Affleck plays the straight man, amusingly deadpan. It’s nice we get to see more of Wolff’s partner-in-crime Justine, who has non-verbal autism and speaks using an English-accented computer program. She now shepherds her own band of Baker Street irregulars, a gang of technology wizards who can hack into anyone’s PC in seconds.
I hear a third ‘Accountant‘ movie is in development – I want a road trip-style adventure where we follow the two guys getting themselves into all sorts of scrapes along the way. Better make it the last in the series, because we know just how much Christian Wolff likes to finish things.
My rating: 6 / 10
SilverScreen 