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The Accountant (2016): A Review
Having one of the most effective teaser trailers of the year, I sat down for director Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant with some level of excitement and anticipation.
It looked like the perfect Fall season action pot boiler, filled with an impressive cast of notable stars and fantastic character actors. And while it’s a great time at the movies - it’s unfortunately brought down a few pegs by a script that is too clever for its own good, and makes some uncomfortable moves to the theatrical representation of those with Autism.
Let me step back.
The titular accountant is Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) - a small-town CPA by day, who also moonlights as the financial cleanup man for countless worldwide criminal organizations. Growing up with high-functioning autism, numbers are his playground. And apparently, given his worldwide crime ties, so are firearms and hand-to-hand combat. Rain Man meets Jason Bourne, if you will.
This has made him the number one target for a soon-to-retire director of the Treasury Department (JK Simmons). He’s been hunting “The Accountant" for most of his career, and with seven months left, he needs to find this guy. How appropriate is it, that at the same time, Wolff decides to take on a new client: a robotics prosthesis company, Living Robotics, who’s CEO (John Lithgow) wants to find $60+ Million just before they go public.
Did you know that the world of Fortune 500 company accounting was filled with villains and the hitmen they hire? Did you know that this can lead to accountants training themselves to become living weapons with intense moral codes (like, say, Batman)?
The Accountant is a very odd and unique way to put together an action movie, but somehow it works. Maybe it’s Affleck, doing a (thankfully) understated performance as Wolff, always slightly out of step with normal people, but incredibly skilled at the things that drive his interest. Maybe it’s the solid cast, ranging from Anna Kendrick as the plucky in-house accountant at Living Robotics, to Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead) as a remarkably charismatic hitman. Maybe it’s JK Simmons, taking his standard grumby boss character and adding some depth and pathos. But somehow - the unbelievably surreal script, written by Bill Dubuque - comes to life over an engaging 128 minutes.
The Accountant isn’t a perfect movie by any means. The script is a little too insistent on tying together every loose end, as if it’s worried about any red in it’s own ledger. The idea of Autistic adults being turned into superhuman calculators (who also are living weapons) is a disturbing one, possibly an insensitive one. (But it may be closer to the truth than we’d like). But I cannot deny that I had a really great time watching what was ultimately a high-concept version of a great 90’s action film.
This isn’t a B-Movie, it’s more a B+ Movie. And with that, I say The Accountant is completely worth a VOD rental or matinee screening. Open your mind a bit, be ready for something a little unusual, and enjoy the action. It’s worth your time.
The Accountant is in theaters now, and is available for pre-order on iTunes and Amazon.com.
Saturday October 22, 2016