Review: The Accountant (No Spoilers)

By Angel:

Movie Description:

“As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities and the body count starts to rise.”

• Expectations

This was one of my most anticipated films of the year because Gavin O’Connor, the director, directed one of my favorite films of all time which is Warrior starring Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy. That movie showcased that he could tell compelling narratives while also getting brilliant performances from his actors. The cast for The Accountant was fantastic and I couldn’t wait to see the collaboration with this intriguing story. Let’s get started!

• Story

I really enjoyed this story because it was unique up until the last act. This film was about an accountant who was also a hitman with Asperger’s syndrome. The best part about this story is learning about who this man is and observing his skill set in each category. It was engaging the whole time for me up until the end which was a predictable and average conclusion.

• Performances

Ben Affleck has really changed his career. This man is truly working his way to becoming one of the best directors and actors in the industry. He has shown so much versatility with his previous roles such as Argo, Gone Girl, Batman v Superman, The Town, and now THIS performance. He did an excellent job portraying a character with significant difficulties to socially communicate with others. The mannerisms and distinctive patterns he brought to the character were interesting, witty, and intimidating. His action scenes reminded me of John Wick; they were thrilling!

Jon Bernthal gave a great performance, but I was disappointed with his character and how they used him. When he first appeared, Bernthal was mysterious, having so much fun, and his line delivery was awesome. I can’t wait to see him in Marvel Netflix’s The Punisher.

J.K. Simmons was also a standout for me because he had this one scene where it was a closeup on his face and watching his emotions spill through the character was fascinating. I also really loved the theme of his character.

The rest of the cast did a satisfactory job. I was really looking forward to seeing the work of John Lithgow, Anna Kendrick, and Jefferey Tambor in this movie, but the way their characters were used was disappointing to me. The best way I could describe it; amazing actors used in underwhelming roles.

• Themes

I absolutely loved the themes expressed in The Accountant. The main message I got from this film is that everyone in their own way is special. They express this through the focus on Autism. In the film, it’s shown that the general viewpoint on Autism is a disability, but then the story offers attention that it’s a misunderstood gift. Once people have the ability to have patience, observe, and listen they can see the beauty in everyone.

The characteristic of being normal is irrelevant to the ranking of intelligence which makes the message of this film am absolute standout. This direct quote from the Accountant’s father “Sooner or later, different scares people” perfectly ties in with that theme. Just because people are different, does not make them incapable, in fact, they could have other exceptional talents.

The other theme I noticed was the importance of relationships between parents and their children. Parents have an incredible impact on their children physically, emotionally, and mentally. The choices that are made between that relationship and guidance can either be positive or negative. I enjoyed seeing those consequences subtly explored in this movie!

• Negatives

My main negative with this film were the plot reveals at the end. One of the plot reveals was extremely anticlimactic and the other was predictable.  The anticlimactic reveal was lame and I’ve seen the generic reveal when it came to the corruption aspect of the narrative before. It would have been much more captivating to see Christian Wolff (The Accountant) and the criminals he serves from all over the world more involved in the story.

The predictable reveal should have had an enormous amount of emotional weight, but for me it did not because I saw it coming. It wasn’t surprising to me at all and it really diminished the tension of the entire film.

Overall:

The Accountant is a movie worth the price of a matinee because I thought it was decent at the most! It’s a thrilling action film, with a great performance from Ben Affleck, a cerebral theme, but I found the conclusion to be typical. Thank you so much for reading my review. My rating for this film is 8/10!