‘The Accountant’ Balances the Books Between Enjoyable and Flawed (FILM REVIEW)

[rating=7.00]

Ben Affleck is possibly the world’s most fortunate action star. It’s a genre he’s toyed with at various points throughout his career, with mixed results for his efforts. It can’t be easy crossing over from 90’s heartthrob to latter day Bruce Willis, and his career path reads like a spiraling map of fits and starts. There’s the direction he seems to want to go in, and the direction audiences keep pulling him. The perception of movie audiences came to a head upon the news of his casting as the new Batman. Years later, of course, we learned that Affleck was, in fact, the best part of Batman v Superman.

For as often as people like to deride the actor, it’s hard to deny that the two-time Academy Award winner is talented. Even though neither of his Oscars were for acting, it says a lot about his capability. As much as anyone working in Hollywood today, Affleck is nothing if not capable, despite the fact that people still tend to hold him down by his failures instead of exalting his successes. Perhaps that explains a bit about his choices over the years; he can’t really please the naysayers no matter what he does, so he might as well just have fun with it. Which is important to recognize when viewing The Accountant.

Like so many of Affleck’s movies, The Accountant is a film that’s elevated by his presence. Full of rote plot points and predictable twists, thanks to screenwriter Bill Dubuque’s (The Judge) so-so screenplay, it’s not hard to see where The Accountant would have been a complete failure in the hands of another star. With Affleck on deck however, the film rises far above the quagmire it might’ve been to become a movie that is, if nothing else, entertaining and enjoyable, despite its clear flaws.

Affleck is Christian Wolff, an autistic accountant to the world’s underbelly, balancing the books for terrorists, smugglers, cartels, and any number of bad guys to earn his living. Along the way, he also offers his skills to legitimate companies, like the robotics company owned by Lamar Black (John Lithgow) which calls on Wolff after low level accountant Dana (Anna Kendrick) finds a discrepancy. This leads him down a twisting path of intrigue and betrayal that he must figure out, all the while evading the Treasury Department investigative team of Ray King (J.K. Simmons) and Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) as well as a hit squad led by the menacing Brax (Jon Bernthal).

It figures that an unlikely action star like Affleck would portray an unlikely action hero like Christian Wolff. The portrayal of autism in cinema has come a long way since the days of Rain Man, which might be unfair comparison given the extreme difference between their respective places on the spectrum. Still, it’s difficult to imagine a character like Wolff (a pseudonym, in turns out, taken from a famous mathematician who was also on the spectrum) existing five or even ten years ago. We don’t often associate people with autism or Asperger’s as action heroes but, really, why not?

For all the talk in recent years about how autism doesn’t have to be the debilitating diagnosis it may seem at first glance, and for all the efforts of normalization, we haven’t seen the needle move much in terms of pop cultural representation. Arguments and fan theories have been made, of course, but never have we gotten a hero explicitly on the spectrum. Any misgivings you might have about that, conceptually, are quickly dismissed. Wolff’s autism becomes a part of his character, what makes him tick and what makes him shine, rather than being an impediment.

An action movie might be a strange place for this kind of messaging but, oddly, it kind of works. The same calculation Wolff brings to his examination of books and ledgers he also brings to shooting you in the back of the goddamn head—a skill picked up at his father’s insistence he learn to defend himself from anyone who might want to bully him for being different. Affleck plays the role well, though unfortunately it might play into the hands of those who want to dismiss him as being stiff or boring. Despite what they might say, it does take a measure of skill to successfully pull off even high functioning autism, and Affleck brings it to life with relative depth and nuance.

If I had to choose one major complaint about The Accountant—and there are several I could choose from—it would be that there’s a level of restraint embedded in the story that keeps the film from going firmly over into the territory of pure shlock greatness, which it very clearly wants to do. Director Gavin O’Conner (Warrior) keeps the narrative grounded by a sense of realism, which often prevents the level of fun and entertainment present in a movie like John Wick, despite some superficial parallels. It wasn’t hard to imagine a scenario where Wolff and Wick might face off, except for the fact that this movie attempts to maintain at least a modicum of plausibility.

With that in mind, the script gets bogged at several points by winding in a story of corporate malfeasance, often causing the film to teeter on the edge of rote legal drama (except with guns and headshots and Muay Thai). In addition, the sort of love story between Affleck and Kendrick feels a bit tacked on; the movie’s slowest moments come where these two interact, and precious little is added to the overall narrative when they do. On top of that, the script tries to handhold the audience a bit too much to be effective, over-explaining where it should’ve implied and outright telling when a brief explanation would do. Still for everything going on with the plot, the film does manage to keep it together well enough, at least for purposes of entertainment.

Mostly because of Affleck. The Accountant probably won’t push you into either the pro or con camp but it’s hard to deny that he’s, if nothing else, fully capable in the role, as incongruous as it all might be. While there are plenty of flaws, some which might hinder certain audiences and their appreciation, The Accountant is one of those films that just asks you to accept it as is, without questioning much. I admit, I often have difficulty appreciating surface level films, but there’s a lot of fun to be had here if you just don’t fight it. In the end, as tricky as the math might be, there’s a bit more black than red in these books, making The Accountant an enjoyable experience overall.

The Accountant is now playing in theaters everywhere.

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter