The Accountant

When it released in theatre i dismissed it thinking it might be a dull movie on an accountant.

Saw this recently (March 2017) on a dvd which i own.

I was expecting another Bourne rip off or shaky cam stuff but this one turned out to be an excellent thriller.

Revisited it again (March 2022) on Amazon Prime but this time with my family.

Affleck did a superb job n he adopted the traits, behaviors and symptoms of autism very well.

There is sufficient character development n the story has good amount of twists n turns.

There is ample amount of action, both gun firing n hand to hand combat.

The headshots r brutal, the body count is high n the movie ended well leaving room for a much needed sequel.

Thankfully it is not shot in hand held camera a la Jason Bourne n Taken style jus to make it appear fast paced.

The movie is engaging n entertaining.

Suspense n tension is maintained throughout.

Director O'Connor succeeded in normalising autism and showing that behavioural conditions should not get in the way of anyone's life.

The song To Leave Something Behind by Sean Rowe is haunting n mesmerizing.

Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is an accountant with high functioning autism who behind his seemingly legitimate small town practice operates as a launderer and auditor for the criminal underworld and possesses an array of combat skills. Taking a legitimate contract for work at technology firm Living Robotics, Wolff is hired by CEO Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow) to investigate some apparent irregularities in their financial books first identified by in house accountant Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick). As Wolff works with Dana and confirms her suspicions, this leads to the two of them unearthing a conspiracy within the company that puts targets on both their backs and against his better judgment Wolff risks protecting Dana from whoever is behind the kill order.

The Accountant is a 2016 action-thriller directed by Gavin O'Connor and Bill Bubuqe. The film became a decent sized hit earning $155 million against a $44 million budget and also generated a positive response from audiences. Critical reception tended to be more mixed with many praising the action sequences and performances (particularly Affleck's), but there was also criticism levied against the screenplay which was seen as overly busy and some labeling the film as potentially offensive to autistic individuals due to a prominent neurodivergent character's engaging in violent acts. Taken for what it is, The Accountant provides some traditional genre thrills with an unconventional and engaging lead character.

Despite the film following an accountant, the film follows a pretty familiar framework with some clear DNA traces to films such as John Wick or The Equalizer with maybe a splash of the style of A Beautiful Mind. Ben Affleck does really well as Wolff who certainly falls within the trope of "quiet introspective badass", but there's some good character work that shows him hardening himself against grating stimuli and engaging in meditative or coping mechanisms that allow him an oasis. This is where I disagree with the critics standing on the film portraying autism in a negative way because the titular Accountant does similar moral code motivated actions similar to John Wick or Robert McCall and it falls in line with action movie universe logic and there's really no difference here aside from the character having autism even down to him protecting innocents even if it's at his own expense. Admittedly there's probably a little too much story in the Accountant with all the detours that go into the accountant's childhood, the conspiracy plot, and a side plot involving J. K. Simmons' Raymond King and Cynthia Addal-Robinson's Marybeth Medina working as Treasury Agents investigating the accountant which probably didn't need to be in the movie and admittedly leads to the film feeling more meandering than a straight narrative, but the characters and backstories were so interesting that I didn't mind the main plot had to pause for the detours.

The Accountant takes familiar crime/action thriller tropes and frames them around a unique lead character in an engaging universe. While it's plot deviates from the traditional framework for this kind of movie, it's oddly appropriate to have an unconventional journey for an unconventional character.

Before today I saw The Accountant in the theater and I wasn't reviewing back then so here I am. Such a great movie about a wonderfully unique being that is very good at many meticulous details such as mathematics, his work really well and mysterious things. Incredible performances from everyone and well written I'm surprised it wasn't nominated a few years ago! Warms my heart to relate to things, glad I own this amazing film in 4K!

Gavin O'Connor, the director of my favorite movie Warrior. Ben Affleck, the once ridiculed but now stupendous entertainer. J.K. Simmons, the distinguished actor from Whiplash. Jon Bernthal, the rising star from The Walking Dead who's a known but yet still unknown actor, and he's great by the way. John Lithgow, an actor who delivers uncanny especially when he's the villain. Bill Dubuque, who the hell is this guy, but he wrote this movie, and this appears to be his first major project besides Robert Downey Jr's The Judge. I enjoy all of these people's work one way or another. This movie has a good director, good leading man, and an all-star cast. From the trailers, this movie seemed like an intellectual movie about a young boy growing up with mental problems, the boy grows up and becomes an accountant, through his work he does business with shady characters, for some reason his clients want him dead, but we know The Accountant is far more capable of much more than they know. I was anticipating this movie based on all the information I just provided. I thought this movie couldn't miss. Is The Accountant a good movie? The Accountant is a good movie.

The direction of this seems rather simple, but as the story progresses, things become a bit too complicated, and maybe not for the better.

I understood the main story and what was happening. The subplot of the movie is what threw me off. I thought the secondary plot was a bit messy but yet still engaging.

The acting in this movie was excellent. I think Ben Affleck as Christan Wolff is the best character he's ever played. Affleck's performance is both engaging and mesmerizing. Everyone does their job here, but Affleck steals the show.

The violence feels ultra realistic. I love action movies, but none have felt as real as this in a long time. When The Accountant kills people, he kills people, and it's not pretty.

There's a lot of jump cutting that's present here. This movie constantly jumps from the past to the present without warning, but the transitions are fluid.

The execution of the story at times feels tedious due to its consistent jump cutting, multi-layered plot, and abundance of characters.

Each character gets their moment, and everyone plays a part, but it's the coincidence that brings them all together.

I think this movie is trying to be more than what it is, and it succeeds. The Accountant movie has a multi-layered engaging main plot about mental illness in young children and how they cope with their situations. The secondary plot is about The Accountant doing business with the wrong people. There's another plot to this movie with J.K Simmons and his story's compelling, but it lacks conviction.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. The fight scenes and choreography were breathtaking. The main plot was engaging. Ben Affleck delivered the best performance of his career. Every actor played their part. This movie suffers from sensory overload, but regardless, I believe that it will stimulate not only intellectuals but white-knuckled action junkies as well. The main plot, Ben Affleck, and the violence is ferocious.

Final Grade: A-

It's as if John Wick is the savant janitor from Good Will Hunting, and surprisingly, it worked.

What should you expect? It has flashes of John Wick action, but it most certainly isn't an all out action movie, however, it also isn't primarily a drama focusing on his autistic/accounting side of things; I felt they did a really good job of combining both elements into a movie that swings back and forth between the two.

I thought the acting was great all around; I found the plot solid and enjoyable.

Here is the bottom line: Yes, this movie is worth your money to see in the theater.

p.s. I'll be the first to admit I have no idea how autism really affects people and how accurate it is or is not portrayed in this movie; I saw this movie as nothing more than what it is: a fictional story to entertain.