Friday, April 25, 2025

The Accountant 2 - Review: Revenge of the Nerd

 

Somewhere back in 2017, some person sitting in a plush office somewhere in Hollywood looked at the fact that the 2016 action thriller “The Accountant” made $150 million worldwide and said, “we need a sequel to that.” So now, fast forward almost a decade after the first film’s release and we have the creatively titled “The Accountant 2,” which retains the same director, same writer, and same cast.

The film follows Christian Wolff, played by Ben Affleck (“Good Will Hunting,” “Gone Girl”), an autistic accountant and money launderer who effectively “uncooks” the books for major criminal organizations and drug traffickers, occasionally sending tips and information to his connection at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, director Marybeth Medina, played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Shooter”). After the death of the previous director while investigating a missing mother and son, Medina seeks out Wolff and his estranged contract killer brother Braxton, played by Jon Bernthal (“The Punisher,” “The Walking Dead”), to help find the mother and son.

Director Gavin O’Connor (“Miracle,” “Warrior”) and writer Bill Dubuque (“Ozark,” “The Judge”) absolutely do not reinvent the wheel here, with either their own franchise or this specific thriller genre fare. It sticks to the building blocks of everything you’d expect from the genre, only marginally breaking out of those elements due to Wolff’s network and autism. Affleck plays the character well, turning out a charming performance that works best when he’s opposite Bernthal at any point in the film. The pair have an almost “Odd Couple” kind of chemistry, and the numerous moments where they’re just existing and spending time as brothers are the best moments of the film by a wide margin. Addai-Robinson is also great when she’s opposite Affleck and Bernthal, working as the straight man to their more chaotic, borderline silly behavior. But when she’s separated from them, her character just becomes far more generic and uninteresting.

The same can also be said for the film’s action sequences. While the film is actually fairly action light, saving these moments for the third act and focusing far more on espionage for the rest of the film, they don’t have any sort of impact. They’re shot well enough, and they certainly have a good energy to them as we watch Wolff and Braxton fly off the handle. But they’re simply just the least interesting part of the entire film. Thankfully though, they do buck the trend of recent action films given that they’re actually shot during the day and are completely visible as a result. An out of left field highlight is the film’s musical score, composed by Bryce Dessner (“Sing Sing,” “We Live in Time”), which cuts through much of the film and stands out as a far more reserved piece than most other thriller films get, and it's refreshing as a result.

It feels weird to say but the best parts of this action-thriller-sequel are the parts that don’t focus on the action or the thrills. Watching Wolff’s pseudo-CSI hacking squad made up of autistic kids from his former orphanage break into databases while they banter with him is extremely charming, and the most memorable parts of the film are when it sheds any notion of being this kind of film. A sequence in a cowboy-themed bar in the middle of the film involving square dancing with Bernthal and Affleck is without a doubt the best part of the film, not only because it leans heavily into their brotherly banter, but also because it just simply commits to the film and its concept’s B-movie level charms.

“The Accountant 2” is certainly not a masterpiece, nor is it a secret gem of memorable genre filmmaking. Rather, it's the kind of odd sequel that’s better than its predecessor because it doesn’t seem to care about being the kind of film it is. Affleck and Bernthal carry the film together, and almost any aspect not focusing on action manages to be effortlessly charming and borderline silly. It’s definitely better than the first film, and while it’s hard to say whether or not the film wants you to be smiling and laughing at it or with it, you’ll be smiling nevertheless. 3.5/5

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