R | 2h 12m | Thriller, Comedy | 2025
“The Accountant” (2016) introduced the titular forensic accountant Christian Wolff (Oscar-winner Ben Affleck). Chris is not a geek. He specializes in money-laundering for some of the world’s most dangerous criminals. He owns a military special warfare operator’s massive gun arsenal too, and knows how to use it like a boss.
So why does he act a bit odd? He’s autistic. Rain Man-Rambo. More like Rain Man-Jason Bourne. I’ve always suspected that Affleck created this autistic-assassin franchise to compete with best-buddy Matt Damon’s amnesiac-assassin franchise.
Almost a decade after the original movie, director Gavin O’Connor and Affleck teamed up for the sequel, which features a substantial shift in both premise and tone. Usually, great movies beget sequels, but the sequels of mediocre movies can sometimes produce a better film than the original. That’s the case with “The Accountant 2.”
Plot
Chris and his younger brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) reunite to help Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) solve the murder of retired Treasury Agent Ray King (J.K. Simmons). They soon discover they’re up against an extremely lethal and elusive assassin (Daniella Pineda).
Chris gets help from his childhood friend and business partner Justine (Allison Robertson), a savant and computer-whiz similar to the character of Chloe O’Brian from “24.” Justine’s team of young computer geniuses provide lightning-quick intel, and break as many laws as those they’re attempting to bring to justice. That’s, of course, fun.
Character Laundering
There’s a major shift in how Chris’s dirty deeds are accounted for, no pun intended. While the original “Accountant” went into depth about Chris’s unusual upbringing and estrangement from his brother, the sequel re-imagines the hilariously squabbling brothers more as altruistic protectors of sex trafficking victims.Character Acting
The main problem here is that Affleck’s role calls for character acting, and Hollywood’s leading men tend not to be character actors. Meaning, Jack always plays Jack (Nicholson), Kevin Costner always plays himself, and so does Harrison Ford. Brad Pitt has a little more range, Johnny Depp has even more, and the late, great Val Kilmer was a true character actor in a leading man’s body. Ben Affleck is always best as himself. Attempting to portray autism is a bridge too far. He plays an idea of autism. Meaning, the audience isn’t able to suspend their disbelief.That said, certain concepts are enjoyable. Think: “Autistic man at a speed-dating convention,” and “Autistic man doing country music line-dancing.” At the speed-dating shindig, Chris’s inability to escape his obsessive-compulsive need to talk about tax forms with potential dates reminded me of an autistic acquaintance who looked shockingly like a young Robert Redford. During freshman year college parties, pretty girls would line up to meet him, only to immediately pick up on the extreme awkwardness, the inability to read the room, the need to talk about Nikola Tesla—and vamoose 15 seconds later.
What works best about “The Accountant 2” is the brother chemistry, and that’s mostly due to Bernthal absolutely nailing the little brother archetype: He looks up to his big brother, is proud of him, deeply wants to be acknowledged and appreciated by him, but he’s also incredibly annoying, hyper-competitive, knows exactly what buttons to push, and takes every opportunity to razz his big bro.
These guys have good bro-chemistry onscreen while saving sex-trafficked Mexican teens and shooting an entire war movie’s worth of bullets. They do it all while seeking to understand humanity and the real meaning of family and connection; it’s a worthwhile endeavor. It’s a bit too much to put on one plate, though. The whole affair ends up being tonally all over the place.
When he’s on his game, director O’Connor can tell a mean story—“Warrior” might be on my top 10 movie list. While “The Accountant 2” is more fun than the first, the franchise unfortunately can’t hold a candle to Damon’s groundbreaking “Bourne” series.
