The Accountant Review
R: Strong Violence and Language Throughout
Warner Bros. Pictures, RatPac Entertainment
2 Hrs and 7 Minutes
Cast: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor, John Lithgow
REVIEW: We’ve had a load of action thrillers released through the year. Some were generic than others. Once in while comes an action thriller that invokes a new perspective on the familiar genre. With an original screenplay written by Bill Dubuque (The Judge) and directed by Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), The Accountant is an original film that has us going through nearly the same route but in a new and unexpected perspective .
Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a mathematics savant with more affinity for numbers than people. Using a small-town CPA office as a cover, he makes his living as a forensic accountant for dangerous criminal organizations. With a Treasury agent (J.K. Simmons) hot on his heels, Christian takes on a state-of-the-art robotics company as a legitimate client. As Wolff gets closer to the truth about a discrepancy that involves millions of dollars, the body count starts to rise.
THE GOOD: If you are that person who loved Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne in Batman V. Superman and can’t keep your composure till his solo film due in 2018, don’t fret because this is the closest thing to a Ben Affleck Batman film to hold you until Ben Affleck’s The Batman. When you question how any lead in an action thriller aren’t classified as a mentally unstable person with every person they kill, The Accountant follows Affleck as a man with Autism. It is a role that you would never see him in and he does a fantastic job at it. You could tell that Affleck seriously did his research for this role because he plays it extremely safe. It may sound like an oxymoron but he truly plays it safe and plays it well. He doesn’t come across as offensive or over the top. Try to imagine Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory as an accountant but with the combat skill of Batman. Everything that comes to mind comes out his mouth and with minimum emotion which you can’t blame him for because that is his condition.
The film sets up a mystery of three separate stories that aren’t edited well. That doesn’t get you invested until 40 minutes into it. It gets more detailed and complex as you go through Wolff’s series of flashbacks as a child living with his father and brother. It takes different turns that seem quite obvious of their connection with Wolff. But then there are surprises to make you go “oh.” No matter what connection they have with this man, in the long run, it gives the cast a lot of development with their specific character.
The shot composition and cinematography is great. Especially In sequences of action and thrills not only is the film presented like a crime noir, but the picture reflects the same. When you have Academy Award nominated cinematographer Seamus McGarvey as your cinematographer (The Avengers, Godzilla, every Sam Taylor-Johnson film, every Joe Wright film) you will get a lot of amazing shots. To see the life of Christian Wolff, not only you see how much he sets up everything to be perfect, but the shots that are needed to follow suit. A lot of the imagery is symmetrical and lined up to be evenly split down the middle.
As much as this was marketed to be a mystery action thriller similar to something like Prisoners. Let me assure you, this is a dark comedy. Most of the comedy really comes from anybody’s interaction with Wolff. He says everything that needs to be said and has a hard time socializing with people. He’s nearly as honest as honest Abe. And the majority of responses he gets are usually people in anger as Wolff maintains a straight face.
THE BAD: The tone for whatever it is, is way off. It can’t decide if it wants to take itself seriously or not. It wants you to have a good time and see the world from Christian Wolff’s eyes but a majority of scenes are played for laughs. And if it's not played for laughs, it displays disturbing images of violence. Even if it's unintentional a majority of this film is comedic and it's extremely awkward especially if it's a scene shared with Anna Kendrick and Ben Affleck. What doesn’t make their chemistry work is the mixture with his stiff unemotional motions and her adorable spunkiness. Only an amount of two or three moments between them during the second towards final act truly stands out but the first several comes off odd to play up for laughter.
Of the three intertwined storylines, there is a detective subplot between J.K. Simmons and Cynthia Addai-Robinson that feels as if it's a different film. Its setup immediately cranks up the intensity straight to 10 and barely goes anywhere until it's truly needed. There are times you even forget that they are there because of a long time of absence. It sometimes feels that they’re there only for the running time to be longer than it needs to be. It has little to no purpose and lacks a true resolution when it does resolve itself.
Even some actors are wasted such as Jeffrey Tambor who is there for two scenes. Though Jon Bernthal isn’t really wasted here, can we not have him typecast as The Punisher. We know he’s The Punisher and all now, but not every role he’s in needs to be him as a gun wielding badass similar to The Punisher. It builds up this square off of Batman V. Punisher which is cool to think about, but Bernthal doesn’t need to be this type of character with every role. It’ll get old and stale quickly like Jason Statham.
LAST STATEMENT: With brilliant cinematography, well-coordinated action sequences, and a great performance by Ben Affleck, The Accountant invokes a new thought-provoking perspective in the action thriller genre even though it awkwardly plays as a dark comedy.
Rating: 3/5 | 68%
Super Scene: Jon Lithgow gets "silenced" during a hissy fit.
