The Accountant 2

In The Accountant 2, Christian Wolff, an autistic math savant and forensic accountant, is drawn into a dangerous investigation when Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina enlists him to solve the murder of her former boss, Raymond King, the director of FinCEN. Teaming up with his estranged, lethal brother Brax, Christian uses his brilliant mind and unconventional methods to unravel a deadly conspiracy.

The Accountant 2 Review

The first The Accountant was a sleeper hit and has become something of a cult favorite. However, if we’re being honest, it was fairly unfocused and, like Pedro Pascal’s brother, uncertain of its identity. The Accountant 2 has turned in its 1040-X and figured out exactly what the franchise is supposed to be.

The Accountant 2 doesn’t get everything right. There’s a tacked-on character/subplot that feels more like spin-off bait than a meaningful part of the film, and Ben Affleck occasionally comes across as doing a bad Rain Man impersonation. Furthermore, the plot itself, while servicable, is little more than an excuse to bring the main characters together. However, The Accountant 2 gets so much right that you won’t care.

The action is fast-paced and visceral without being overwhelming, and the pacing is brisk. For a two-hour and seventeen-minute film, there’s very little fat on it. But, what really balances The Accountant 2’s ledger is the nuclear chemistry between Ben Affleck and Jon Berenthal. The two are electric together, and infuse the film with more heart than the Mayo Clinic. They ARE the movie.

Unlike its predecessor, this film is completely character-driven and does a much better job of world-building. Yet it shows considerable restraint and is clearly holding some things in reserve for future iterations.

By the time the credits began to roll, my face hurt from smiling. The Accountant 2 is a return to the mid-budget action flicks of yore, one with heart, humor, and just enough earnestness to make it matter —a film that I’m thrilled to mark as Worth it.

P.S. Affleck is really starting to show his age, so let’s hope that we don’t have to wait another eight years for the next sequel.

WOKE ELEMENTS

Donde Esta La Biblioteca

• The movie’s plot centers around the human trafficking of illegal immigrants, specifically a kidnapped, illegal alien El Salvadoran child. However, it’s little more than a contrivance to bring the brothers together and to give them a moral pass to empty a lot of magazines on some very detestable characters. It is done with zero self-righteousness or leftist proselytizing. So I didn’t mark the movie down for it at all. In fact, if anything it’s a commentary on why it’s wrong to encourage and foster illegal immigration.
• Scumbags utter the only leftist talking points.
  • The first is when a white male human trafficker tells Affleck’s character, “I don’t see people as legal or illegal. I see people.”
  • The next is when a latino pimp says, “…any job an American won’t do or a machine can’t.”

Tough Titty

• There is a super-tough bad@$$ female character… who is virtually irrelevant and could have had all three of her very brief scenes cut out of the film without anyone noticing. Rather than an integral part of the film, she felt tacked on, possibly to set up a spin-off. Despite being very tough, she only ever fights another woman. She’s completely forgettable between her scenes. So, I didn’t mark down the Woke-O-Meter much.

White Boy Calculus

• You can practically see the formula written on a chalkboard. The movie features two strong and competent male protagonists, both of whom are white. Therefore, all other white men in the film must be portrayed as bad guys, and diverse men and women must play any other “good” characters. White guys aren’t the only bad guys, but they do get the lion’s share of screen time in comparison to their minority counterparts.

I Wish I Could Quit You

• Blink and you’ll miss it but in a Honky Tonk bar in California there is a very brief moment when two men dressed as cowboys are tancing together, with one twirling the other. It’s incredibly short and in the background, almost entirely obscured by different people. If I hadn’t just so happened to be looking at that section of the screen, I would have missed it.