Quirky, comic book action thriller sums up 'Accountant'
"The Accountant" figures to be a quirky, comic book-inspired, character-driven action thriller riddled with as many jack-in-the-box surprises as bullets, kicks and punches.
It stars Ben Affleck as a supersmart, high-functioning autistic CPA who moonlights as a one-man hit squad when he needs to be, and in Gavin O'Connor's weirdly disarming movie, he needs to be a lot.
Affleck has never been an actor known for his range and emotional depth, but for his affably believable spin offs of his own low-key persona.
As CPA assassin Christian Wolff (one of many aliases named after famous mathematicians and authors), Affleck treats his character as a graduate of the Vulcan School of Acting by responding to all situations - life-threatening or otherwise - with aloof coolness and unexpressive detachment. (This is how Arnold Schwarzenegger should have played the original "Terminator.")
Bill Dubuque's complex and layered screenplay cleverly ties together several narrative strands.
First, the emo-allergic Wolff gets summoned to look over the books of the "Living Robotics" company after one of its accountants, Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), identifies millions in missing funds. The company boss (John Lithgow) wants the matter cleared as soon as possible.
Second, Wolff discovers that he and Cummings have been targeted for assassination by a shadowy master hit dude with the abrasive name of Brax (John Bernthal). But why?
Third, Treasury Department investigator Ray King (J.K. Simmons) has a doozy of a puzzle: Who is the mystery financier glimpsed in photos helping the world's worst despots, drug dealers, weapons suppliers and cartel chieftains launder their money? It's Wolff, of course, and King puts his new analyst, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) on the case.
Then, "The Accountant" supplies several series of illuminating flashbacks.
One shows how a very young Christian (Seth Lee) and his brother (Jake Presley) are forced to train as martial arts fighters by their military dad (Robert C. Treveiler). And another shows how an adult Christian learns the art of money laundering from a mob accountant (Jeffrey Tambor).
Director Gavin O'Connor (of "Jane Got a Gun" and "Warrior" credits) treats this thriller not as a serious John LeCarre experience, but as a strangely affectionate relationship drama filtered through an oddly comical subset in the canon of superhero action pictures.
Paralleling typical superhero origin tales, Wolff evolves from a difficult childhood being "different" ("Sooner or later," Dad tells little Christian, "different scares people") into a tormented adult loner with special gifts for extreme focus and computer-like recall of facts and experiences.
Those skills, plus some old-fashioned combat training, put a new spin on autistic movie characters, turning them from a traditional conduit of sympathy into a complicated, full-throttle, thinking anti-hero.
If nothing else, "The Accountant" will tide us over until Affleck's next stand-alone Caped Crusader adventure, "The Batman."
“The Accountant”
★ ★ ★
Starring: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, John Bernthal
Directed by: Gavin O'Conner
Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated R for language, violence. 128 minutes