The Accountant

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with a man walking through a bar with multiple dead bodies on the ground, having been shot in the head. He slowly makes his way upstairs, hearing someone begging for his life. He passes more bodies, making his way to the door of the room where the begging man is. An abrupt sound is heard and the begging stops.The next scene takes place about 30 years ago (via title card) at a place called the Harbor Neuroscience Institute in New Hampshire. It's a big, beautiful home in a forested area. Two young boys are sitting in a living room. One is sitting calmly in a chair, and the other unboxes a puzzle and rapidly starts putting it together. The boy with the puzzle is shaking and murmuring to himself. A young girl is also in the room with a caregiver who is trying to put her shoes on. The young girl screams and smacks her own head and is unable to communicate. The boy quickly assembles the puzzle but starts screaming inconsolably when one piece is missing, repeating over and over that he has to finish the puzzle. The young girl has stopped screaming and reaches over to pick up the piece that had fallen under the table and hands it to the young boy, and they look directly at each other. The boy completes the puzzle, revealing that he has assembled it upside down, without seeing the image of Muhammed Ali to guide him.In the adjacent room, a psychologist is speaking to the parents of the two boys. There is a sign on the refrigerator with simple drawings of six stick figure faces, happy, angry, sad, etc. They discuss the puzzle boy's sensitivity to bright light and loud noises. He is also stubborn and fixates on things, like wearing only one t-shirt, which the psychologist explains is due to a tactile sensitivity. He is also likely to channel his anxiety into repetitive behaviors like shaking, tapping his fingers and talking to himself. He tells them that the boy will likely always have problem with things like maintaining eye contact or making friends. The mother explains that the father is in the military, which means they move frequently, so the boy hasn't been able to make friends anyway, leaving his younger brother as the only friend he has. The father seems uninterested in the conversation. The psychologist suggests that they leave the boy at his institute, where they can teach him coping mechanisms and provide a calm, comforting environment that won't exacerbate his sensitivities. The father says no, telling the psychologist that if the boy is sensitive to light and sound, he needs to be exposed to more light and sound, as the world is not going to accommodate his special needs.In the present day, Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is an accountant in his own, small practice. He has a few small tics, like tapping his fingers on the desk or blowing on them quickly. He has a very flat affect when speaking, and he doesn't seem very warm or friendly. He is meeting with a farmer and his wife. The farmer is embarrassed that they have fallen on tough times, and his wife gently suggests that they pay their taxes via credit card to buy some more time. She sees Christian seemingly staring at her necklace and asks if he likes it as she made it herself. He responds in a monotone, direct way and says he doesn't like it, but asks if she sells any jewelry she makes. She tells him that she just sells a few at church fairs or to friends but not in any meaningful way. He asks if she has an office she uses to produce her wares, and she keeps insisting that it's just a hobby she does when she's watching TV. He is gently steering them toward declaring it as a home business, telling them the IRS allows the deduction of a certain amount of household expenses when used for business purposes. He subtly suggests to the husband that they declare a large portion of the house as her "home office." After more questioning, she says she simply drives her truck to the local craft store to purchase beads, and he corrects her, saying she is driving the company vehicle to purchase business supplies.The farmer and his wife leave in a much happier mood, grateful to Christian for his expertise. The farmer invites Christian to his home for fishing, to which Christian responds flatly that he doesn't fish, but he does shoot. The farmer tells him he has plenty of space for shooting if he'd like to visit them sometime. Christian does visit the farm and sets up cantaloupes with simple faces drawn on, matching the stick figure faces seen in the Harbor Institute. He sets up with a high powered sniper rifle. The farmer watches through binoculars from the house and claims that the 1,000 foot distance would be impossible for Christian to hit, but Christian shoots them all accurately in quick succession.Meanwhile, Ray King (JR Simmons), the director of financial crimes at the Treasury Department calls a young analyst, Marybeth Medina, into his office. He credits her with a big investigation, though she demurs and says it was a team effort. He asks why she hasn't applied for an agent position, and she deflects, saying she enjoys her job. Ray shows her what he has on his computer screen, which is Marybeth's juvenile criminal record. It shows serious charges including assault, drugs and attempted murder. She is shocked as she believed the records to be sealed. He tells her that it's a felony offense to lie on an application to work for the federal government, as she had hidden her past. She asks what he wants.Ray hands her a stack of photographs, which show terrorists, drug cartel leaders, mafia bosses, and other criminal leaders meeting with the same man, who is only seen from behind or partial profile. Ray explains that he is an accountant who works for the world's biggest criminals, as they cannot call H&R Block when they have a financial problem. He is surprised that the accountant has survived this long, given how dangerous his clientele is. He knows of multiple aliases used by the accountant, including Lou Carroll and Carl Gauss. Ray tells Marybeth that he is retiring soon, and her job is to find out who the accountant is, or he will reveal her criminal past.In Zurich, a man gets into his car in a parking garage. A second man (the Assassin) quickly enters the vehicle and calmly pulls out his gun, placing a silencer on it. The first man is dismissive, saying he has kidnapping insurance so the Assassin should just get on with his business quickly. The Assassin is surprised at his arrogance. He explains that he was hired to send a message to the man, who is a stockbroker and has been shorting the stocks of the Assassin's boss' company. The Assassin orders the stockbroker to stop shorting stocks. The man is continually arrogant and dismissive, so the Assassin strikes him deftly and repeatedly. The man tries reaching for the gun at one point, but the Assassin skillfully deflects him. The man finally submits and asks which company he should stop shorting, as he does it to many companies. The Assassin simply tells him to stop shorting all stocks or he'll return to kill him. He exits the car and leaves.Christian drives to his home, which is very bare. He has no art or photos or any decorations in the house. He owns exactly one plate, one fork, one knife, one spoon, and prepares himself dinner. He is highly ritualized in the way he prepares his food. He continuously shows small tics, like blowing on his fingers before picking up his fork. Later in the evening, he goes into his bedroom and turns on a strobe light and loud, heavy metal music. He picks up a small, wooden rod and uses it to roll on his leg muscles. He is trying to remain calm, subjecting himself to the stressful stimuli until his alarm beeps and it's time to take his Zoloft.Interspersed throughout the film are flashbacks to Christian's childhood. One day his mother leaves their family, as the stress of taking care of the boys, particularly with special needs, is unbearable as the father is never around. Young Christian is screaming and throwing things and punching through walls, while his younger brother watches resentfully. The father is arguing with the mother that she can't abandon her family and tells her to wait a moment. He runs in the house to hold Christian tightly until he calms down. The mother gets into her waiting cab, and the younger brother gives her the middle finger from the window.In present day, Christian is seen talking on the phone with a woman (the Voice) whose caller ID is a smiley face, similar to the ones from the stick figure face diagram referenced earlier. She has a very flat affect as well and is prone to stating emotions or describing her behavior, such as stating "deep sigh" rather than actually sighing. They are discussing new jobs for Christian. She suggests he take a legitimate job for a company called Living Robotics rather than a criminal assignment that is more dangerous, as she cares for his safety. They also discuss some of his assets, including a Renoir painting and a Pollock painting, that she is trying to sell for him.Christian drives to a storage facility where he keeps a trailer. Inside are his valuable paintings as well as cash, passports, gold bullion, first edition comic books and a storage space for lots of serious weapons. He also has a copy of the stick figure face diagram. He checks on everything periodically and goes on his way.Marybeth's investigation continues, and she is able to figure out that the Accountant's known aliases are actually a famous mathematician (Carl Gauss) and Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland who was also a mathematician and suspected of having Asperger's. She relies on friends in the FBI who use the profile pictures to assemble a suggestion of what his face might look like. They are also able to connect it to an unknown man who attacked a bar/club that was the base of operations for the Gambino crime family. The man killed the two guards standing outside and then entered the home, killing the seven people inside using their own weapons, including the mafia boss' son, Little Nicky, who was killed with one swift kick to the head. The house was bugged, as the family was being investigated, so there is an audio recording of the attack, including a man begging for his life (linking it to the opening scene). Nothing else can be heard other than the man begging and then the kick.Marybeth manipulates the audio file and is eventually able to isolate a second, very quiet voice that seems to be muttering something repeatedly. She sends this file to experts who tell her that it is a nursery rhyme being repeated over and over again. She explains that the recording was made during a highly-stressful event, which makes the expert ask if the person was traumatized as young child. The flat affect and repetitive nature of the recording, despite a high-stress environment, would indicate that the person has some sort of neurological disorder, such as autism.Another flashback to Christian's childhood shows that the family is living in Indonesia. An older man is teaching the boys to fight and is quite brutal in beating them. The father watches from the side while casually reading a newspaper. The instructor finally says that they are just boys and that's enough training. The father remarks that if they were done, the instructor would be laying on the ground bleeding. Young Christian replies in Indonesian that the instructor should continue. The younger brother is deeply loyal to Christian, though he seems exhausted from the fight as well.Christian visits Living Robotics where he meets with the CFO and the CEO's sister, who is a high-ranking executive of the company. The CFO is clearly put off that an outside financial consultant has been brought in to figure out a major financial discrepancy in the books. He says that a young accountant who didn't know what she was doing stuck her nose into things that weren't her business. He says he's been working with the CEO, Lamar, for 15 years and would never hurt the company. He also claims that the company's records would be far too complex for Christian to decipher as they manufacture over 100 different products and have three different businesses. Christian brushes off his concerns and asks for the documents to be prepared for him.Christian also meets with Lamar, the CEO, who tells him that he (Christian) came highly recommended by someone whose daughter needed the company's advanced prosthetics. Lamar gives him a tour, showing him how their prosthetics have helped the lives of many amputees. Lamar promises to fully cooperate with Christian's investigation and to give him whatever he needs to complete the job.The next day Christian returns to Living Robotics to find a young woman asleep in the conference room with boxes of files and folders neatly prepared for him. He wakes her and she introduces herself as Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), the in-house accountant who found the discrepancies. She tries to offer her assistance to walk him through the files and suggests they have lunch together. Christian, in his somewhat odd demeanor, turns down her offer. He sets about his work, which is highly ritualized. He goes through all the old files and begins writing on the whiteboards and then on the windows of the conference room.He takes a break for lunch and happens to sit near Dana who is also eating her lunch outside. She notices his dented, steel thermos, and she tries to make small talk with him about why he went into financial consulting. She tries joking with Christian, who is polite but doesn't get jokes. She tells him that she wanted to study art, but her father discouraged this and told her to follow in his footsteps as an accountant, the kind with a nerdy pocket protector, which Christian is also wearing. She tells him the only art her father likes is dogs playing poker, which Christian says he also likes.Christian works through the night and is able to deduce that $61 million is missing from the company. He starts to explain it to Dana who catches on quickly. The CEO's sister interrupts them and dismisses Dana. She wants to know if Christian has guessed who's responsible for the missing money, to which Christian responds that he doesn't guess. He needs to keep reviewing the documents to figure it out. She expects a full report from him shortly.That night, the CFO of Living Robotics wakes up when he hears a noise downstairs. He heads down and finds the Assassin waiting in his kitchen, with two henchmen. They sit together and the Assassin calmly tells the CFO he should give himself a double dose of insulin, so his death will appear like an accident. Otherwise, they will kill him violently and there might be a struggle, waking his wife, and they would have to kill her too and stage it as a robbery. The CFO tearfully agrees.The next day, Christian arrives at the office of Living Robotics to see all the files being packed up and his work being erased. He is distraught at being unable to finish his investigation. Lamar, the CEO, is upset, believing that his friend, the CFO, killed himself as he had been giving himself injections for many years and wouldn't have made such a simple mistake. Lamar tells Christian that the CFO killed himself out of guilt for scamming the money, and Lamar says his friend was more important than the money.That night Christian engages in his usual ritual with the strobe light and loud music, but he is deeply frustrated that he wasn't able to finish his assignment. He hits himself painfully with his wooden rod and is unable to cope with the stimuli. He grabs his medication and forcefully throws it across the room before calming down and picking it up.Another flashback shows Christian in prison, talking with an older man with glasses (Jeffrey Tambor). The man is very kind to Christian and is trying to coach him in having normal interactions with people, learning to read their emotions from the tone of their voice and their facial expressions. They share a bunk, and late at night, he tells Christian about his clients, who are the criminals mentioned in the beginning of the film.Christian visits the farmer and his wife again, to practice more shooting. As he sets up, he has a flashback to another childhood memory when his family was living in France. His father drives him and his brother to an abandoned alley where four teens are hanging around. The teens have been bullying Christian, and his father tells him that he must fight back as people will walk all over him otherwise. Christian gets out of the car and runs up to the bigger teens, beating them up. The younger brother waits in the car, until his father tells him to follow, and he leaps out of the car to help Christian.The Assassin's two henchmen have followed Christian to the farm and are holding the farmer and his wife inside hostage. They have the wife call out to Christian, but he doesn't seem to hear them. Then suddenly, one of the henchmen is shot through the head by a sniper rifle. The other henchman grabs the couple and heads to the car, but Christian shoots out the tires. He then heads to the couple's truck, and Christian shoots the engine to disable it. He runs up to the truck and grabs the henchman. Christian strangles him and asks who hired him. The henchman won't say, but hands over Dana's ID, saying that his instructions were to kill the two of them. Christian kills him and casually waves bye to the farmer and his wife.Christian rushes out in his truck and calls the Voice. She tells him to get to his storage unit, hitch up the trailer and get out of town immediately, in her flat affect. She works on setting up a new identity, changing the registration on his car, and killing off the Christian Wolff identity. She advises him not to worry about Dana, as he only has time to save himself.Marybeth's investigation leads her to a friend at the IRS. He helps her comb through tax returns of accountants with the names of Carl Gauss and Lewis Caroll. Using some filters, they narrow down the list but the most likely suspects are already dead. She then produces a list of 100 of the most famous mathematicians, believing that the Accountant would be using the list as his aliases. They slowly search through the system for the different names.Christian goes to Dana's apartment, afraid for her safety. He sees that she is being followed by somebody through the window but can't enter the building. He gets in through a service entrance and climbs the stairs rapidly to get to her floor. Two delivery men have followed her down her hallway, though she doesn't suspect anything. Two more guards are waiting in the hallway. Christian quickly kills the two guards in the hallway. The two delivery men burst into Dana's apartment, attacking her but she fights back. She locks herself in the bathroom and tries to escape. Christian enters, killing one of the men and then fighting the other man who has just broken into the bathroom. Dana is shocked to see Christian who has ruthlessly dispatched the men.Christian takes Dana with him to his storage unit. He instructs her to wait outside but she enters anyway, finding his cash and valuable paintings and a storage space his weapons. He is annoyed that she came inside to his private space where he is packing up clothes, cash, passports and comic books. She questions how he owns an original Renoir and an original Pollock, which he explains he received as payment.Marybeth's exhaustive search has not yielded anything so far. On a hunch, they pull up the two accountants who fit her profile (Caucasian male, age 25-45) for the last name on the list, Christian Wolff. One declared an income of over $500,000, which tipped the IRS off for an audit, which revealed that he was clean. The other declared an income of $75,000. This accountant's firm is called ZZZ Accounting, which seems suspicious as it's a bad choice for a name when they are listed alphabetically in a phone book. They look up a picture of the street view for the firm, which is in a dingy strip mall with a nail salon, laundromat and Chinese food restaurant. On a hunch, Marybeth has her friend look up the tax returns on the three neighboring businesses. ZZZ Accounting is listed as the accountant for all three businesses, who have each declared over $400,000 in income. When they try to figure out where the money has gone, they realize that huge charitable contributions have been made to Harbor Neuroscience.Marybeth takes this information to Ray who is speaking at a press conference about a recent high-profile investigation that was completed successfully. When questioned about how they received such intel, Ray simply cites good old-fashioned investigative work. Marybeth shows him her research and they agree to check out ZZZ Accounting and Christian Wolff.Christian takes Dana to a fancy hotel. They talk more about the strange accounts of Living Robotics. Christian uncovered that $61 million was embezzled but then hidden under different accounts, so it wasn't technically missing. They go up to their room, and Christian paces around the hotel room, muttering something over and over to himself, so Dana asks him to sit with her. They talk, and Christian tells her that he has high-functioning autism, so he has difficulty connecting with people even though he wants to. Dana tells him a story of how she wanted to buy an expensive gown for her high school prom so that she could wow her classmates and feel like she deserved to be special and to belong, forming a connection with Christian. Her original plan backfired when she tried to learn to count cards and go to a casino with all her savings, but on her way out with her remaining $20, she played a slot machine and won enough money to buy the dress, which she only wore one time. She asks Christian why he brought them to a fancy hotel to hide out, which he deflects by saying the water pressure is good. He then cites the nice towels, as he wanted her to enjoy it. She starts to lean in and get closer to Christian, when he suddenly sits up and references an old electronics chain.He remembers it because the business owner ran an ingenious scam by stealing money out of the business but then investing it back in it, inflating its value so that its stocks would sell for more money. He realizes this is what Living Robotics must be doing.Christian sets out to see Lamar's sister, believing her to be behind the plot. As he pulls up to her home, he sees a suspicious man exiting her building. He follows from across the street, and we see that it's the Assassin. The Assassin seems to know someone is following him though he never turns and looks. He then quickly pulls out his gun and fires two shots at Christian, who ducks behind a car. When he peers out, the Assassin is gone. Christian enters the building and finds that Lamar's sister is dead.Marybeth and Ray are able to track down Christian's home, which he has abandoned. They find high-tech surveillance cameras outside as well as a huge machine gun mounted in his garage. Ray sees the dented thermos in the cupboard and smiles knowingly. After searching the house thoroughly, Marybeth and Ray sit in the living room and Marybeth asks why he's so fixated on the Accountant.Ray tells Marybeth that Francis Silverberg used to be the accountant for the Gambino crime family, in addition to other criminal leaders. As Francis was getting older, the Gambinos were afraid that he would might eventually rat them out, so with his life in danger, Francis went into protective custody in prison. In prison, he met Christian and took him under his wing. He taught Christian about his business and his clients, and told him that his mistake was staying in one place for too long.Christian was later moved to a different facility to help the government financially track terrorists. At some point, Ray was placed on the investigation into the Gambino family and met with Francis in prison, but Ray didn't take him seriously. For some reason, Francis is released from prison where he is no longer protected. The Gambinos catch him and torture him and kill him. When a guard at Christian's new facility lets him know, Christian grabs the guard's coffee thermos and smashes him over the head and escapes. Since Ray didn't take his interview with Francis seriously, he felt partially responsible for his death.Marybeth asks why Christian was in prison in the first place. Ray tells her that Christian's mother died, and he and his father, who were both in full military dress, went to the funeral where they saw her new husband and their two young boys. The new husband tried to have them escorted out, and Christian responded violently. Christian's father tried to break it up and was shot and killed by accident.Ray asks Marybeth about her background and the charges on her record. She explains that the man she assaulted was a drug dealer she was trying to get her sister away from. She pistol-whipped him and locked him in the trunk of a car, but it was worth it as her sister grew up to have a normal life with a career and family.Ray tells her that later on, he sat in a surveillance truck for months outside the Gambino headquarters with nothing to show for it when one day, a man walks up and kills the two mafia guards standing outside. Ray runs inside rather than waiting for backup, to find multiple dead bodies inside (connecting to the opening scene, and the audio recording). He hears Little Nicky upstairs begging for his life. Based on what he hears and what he sees, he believes that the killer was out for revenge for something deeply personal. Ray follows quietly and is about to enter the room, when Christian comes up behind with him a gun. Christian questions him, and Ray tells him that he's just a lowly Treasury agent. Christian asks if he's good at his job, which Ray tells him he's not. He says he's lousy at his job, but he has children and begs him not to kill him. Christian asks if he's a good father. Ray tells him that he know he's bad at his job, but he's a great father and he always did right by his kids. Christian walks away.Ray tells this story to Marybeth and then tells her that he planned to retire right away and give up the job, but on the way out the door, he gets a phone call. He picks it up and it's the Voice, tipping him off to a human trafficking ring. He gets the credit for the case. He later gets another tip about drugs coming into the country, and he is again credited for the case, raising his profile and success at the agency. Marybeth realizes that all of Ray's successes came from the Voice. Ray then reminds her that he's retiring soon, so someone else needs to take the Voice's calls. At first, Marybeth refuses. Then the phone in Christian's house rings. She answers it, and the Voice tells her to tell Ray to get his feet off the coffee table.Later, the Assassin is setting up a team of henchmen at the home of Lamar, the CEO of Living Robotics, as he was behind the whole plot and killed his CFO and his sister to cover his tracks. The Assassin questions Lamar about Christian, but Lamar is dismissive and says he's just a freak. He also asks Lamar what the point of all of this was. Lamar claims that his ability to help people far outweighs any crimes he's committed. Christian is able to get on the premises and kill the henchmen one by one, leaving only one man and the Assassin, who has been monitoring the situation on surveillance cameras. As the Assassin watches, he realizes that Christian is muttering nursery rhymes to himself, which the Assassin recognizes. The last remaining henchman has a gun on Christian, but the Assassin bursts in and tells him to stand down. The henchman ignores him and is about to pull the trigger when the Assassin kills his own henchman.Christian stands up from behind his hiding place and greets the Assassin, "Hello Braxton," revealing that the Assassin is Christian's younger brother. The two men are surprised to see each other as they haven't seen each other in 10 years. As they talk, it becomes increasingly antagonistic. Braxton blames Christian for their father's death because Christian wanted to go to their mother's funeral, even though she abandoned their family. Christian lets Braxton take his anger out on him without fighting back. Lamar watches all this on the surveillance cameras incredulously.Braxton challenges Christian to fight back, asking him why he (Christian) didn't turn to him for support, and he's always been there for him his whole life. Christian does fight back and they finally end up on the floor, both tired. Lamar enters the room and asks what the hell is going on. Christian abruptly shoots Lamar, and then offhandedly apologizes to Braxton, saying he had to finish what he started.Christian gets up to leave and Braxton asks if they can meet again soon. Christian tells him that he'll find in about a week.Christian leaves a note for Dana in her hotel room, telling her that she deserves "wow". He packs up his trailer and drives away.At another press conference at the Treasury Department, reporters ask about the scandal surrounding Living Robotics and the recent death of its CEO and how the Treasury Department was able to solve the case. The director calls up the agent in charge, Marybeth who follows Ray's cue and simply cites good old-fashioned investigative work.Dana is back in her apartment and repairing the damage caused by the fight when she gets a mysterious package delivered to her. She opens it up to find a painting, seemingly expecting the Pollock she saw in Christian's trailer. Instead, it's the painting of dogs playing poker. She laughs, but when she notices the canvas seems to be loose, she pulls at it and realizes the Pollock is underneath the dogs.The final scene takes place at Harbor Neuroscience. Two parents are talking to the same psychologist from the beginning, telling him about their son. Their son wanders through the house. The psychologist tells the parents that the outside world will treat him like he's different or dumb, and then he will be burdened by the low expectations. Most of the other people in the house are children, but the boy wanders into the room of an adult woman who is screaming and shaking and smacking herself in the head. The boy's parents come in and apologize for their son wandering in. The woman calms down briefly as she looks at the boy and seems to smile at him. The psychologist tells them that the woman's name is Justine, one of their few full-time residents. She's unable to communicate verbally, but she can do so using her computer. He suggests that the boy hang out with Justine while he finishes giving the parents their tour. They agree and leave their son with Justine who seems to have calmed down.The parents ask the psychologist about Justine, and he explains that she's his daughter and the reason he started his institute. They also ask how they are funded, and he tells them that they have some very generous benefactors. The father asks if that is how Justine has such an expensive computer. He explains that he's an engineer and that her computer is powerful enough to hack the Pentagon, which the psychologist didn't realize.Back in the room, Justine goes to her computer while the boy looks around the room. He sees a framed puzzle of Muhammed Ali on the wall. Justine sits down at her computer to show the boy how she communicates. She types something and the Voice greets the boy. She smiles and a photo on the wall shows that she is the same young girl at the beginning of the film who connects with young Christian over the puzzle.

Tags: violence, neo noir, plot twist

Review:
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.
Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is not Christian in the traditional sense, but he is a wolf of a hunter, about as accurate as anyone behind a telescopic gun barrel could be.Yet he's a brilliant accountant at the same time, thank you, autism: He has a savant's grasp of facts and numbers (think Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man) but a serious deficiency in the affective and communicative categories.
Wolff's legitimate, current job for a robotics company is complicated enough for him to need several glass walls to write on (think Affleck's buddy Mark Damon in Good Will Hunting), taking in hours what would consume days for a host of professional accountants.
It's pleasant not to be bothered by heavy sex when the complications are of the cerebral, themselves the core of pleasure in this brainy, but not too, action drama.Unfortunately our autistic hero, trained by a merciless military father to defend himself because dad knew son would always be treated as different, slips into thriller stereotype, e.g. Christian puts down too many hired guns at one time, albeit in the service of a noble retaliation for a prison friend.
Although the action is within the parameters of the genre, it here feels overdone given the cerebral contexts that otherwise provide plenty of thrills.One of the joys of this film is to see Affleck show some acting chops; he may never be like Dustin Hoffman, but he's memorably stoic here, a long way from J.Lo and Gigli..
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.
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.
well a great story, and this is it, although somewhat predictable it's more a comforting predictable, a good guy wins story with enough great twists in it to keep the interest.The cast here lifts the game, who knew Affleck had this in him, and supported by the ever sweet Kendrick (all be it with a kick-ass moment), and throw in favorites like Simmons (Terminator Genisys) and Addai-Robinson (Shooter), all playing their respective parts well.The scene with Affleck's and Kendrick's characters having lunch showed great subtly in writing, directing and acting.
Sharing the screen with Affleck, Jon Bernthal's wild streak comes out to play in another menacing badass role and J.K. Simmons is dependably magnetic as a lead agent with a secret past, however Anna Kendrick's kooky numbers cruncher seems to have walked in from a completely different movie (Pitch Perfect 3 perhaps?).
directed by Gavin O'connor and starring: Ben Affleck at the leading role.Story line :the story is about a mental calculator who works as forensic accountant tracking insider financial deception for numerous criminal enterprises brought to him by an unknown women voice on his phone.Review :to me this was by far one of the best films that were released last year, it is not an Oscar film but it is a good one with great acting performance from Ben Affleck, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J.K. Simmons and Anna kendrick.Affleck's performance here's one of his best next to his amazing role in Gone Girl 2014 (which i highly recommend you to watch), he really brought to the character everything and show to us how people with autism live.the action scenes are the soul of the film, i enjoyed them very much especially ben's head shots they were very funny and enjoyable and his fighting skills were really amazing( i just which they had put a little more action to this film, but i guess due to the flashback scenes and the difficult story it would have become too difficult to focus.As for the brother role it was OK in the flash back but when it came to present time it was a little bit bad and the reason of it is choosing an actor who is totally different in race and physic and i just kept looking at him wondering what the hell they were thinking when they chose him to play the role (even his body figure was totally different from the child's body!) for me that was the only bad thing in this film.Final rate :8 out of 10.
I don't usually say this about Ben Affleck movies but the acting was pretty great all the way through.
Words to use to describe this movie are hard to find.Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons, Anna Kendrick, and John Lithgow.
Real genuine friends are hard to find and when you do find one you do everything to protect them.The chemistry between Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick is as clear as day and that was another thing that makes this movie so good for me.This is a must watch movie, I highly recommend it.10/10.
In "The Accountant", Ben Affleck, who is forever linked with his erstwhile partner Matt Damon, gets to play both of Damon's most famous roles: he is a mathematical genius (an autistic savant) like Will Hunting and a weapons expert, like Jason Bourne.The movie is not as memorable as the ones that feature those characters, however.
Do you know what I found the most unbelievable thing in Ben Affleck's latest action film, THE ACCOUNTANT?The accounting!Ben Affleck as an Autistic accountant who helps "un-cook the books" of some nefarious fellows - no problem.That same Autistic accountant who also is deadly trained in martial arts and weapons - no problem (though it does stretch credibility almost to the breaking point).But when THE ACCOUNTANT went into a giant corporation and uncovered a major siphoning off of funds with the skills and accounting acumen that an Accounting neophyte like I could have uncovered, I threw the flag.
These bigwigs would have been busted almost immediately, and not "suddenly uncovered" 15 years later!Put that aside and THE ACCOUNTANT is an above-average action film with an interesting plot (and subplots) that suffers from a lack of focus that can be distracting at times, but - ultimately - succeeds despite these failures.Let's start with the performances and the actors in the 4 main lead roles.
Bernthal really has one trait that works for him - simmering rage - and he puts it to good use here.But the performance that drew me the strongest into the film and, at the same time, pulled me away from it is Anna Kendrick as Jr. Accountant Dana Cummings, the person who uncovers the misdeeds of the corporation.
I don't blame Kendrick for this, she is a charismatic and engaging actress who is "must watch", I blame Director Gavin O'Connor for losing focus on who the main character of this film is.Is it about THE ACCOUNTANT (Affleck)?Is it about the agent chasing him (Simmons) and the secrets that he is hiding that connects him to THE ACCOUNTANT?Is it about the assassin charged with killing THE ACCOUNTANT (Bernthal) and the connections these two share?Or...is it about the JUNIOR ACCOUNTANT (Kendrick) and the idea of the innocent being pulled into a world of non-innocence?Any one of these films would have been interesting, or maybe a film that was 25% about each of these...but, with Affleck in the lead, O'Connor focuses 70% of the film on THE ACCOUNTANT, so when we start spending, and investing, in the other characters, it is jarring when you are pulled from one to the other and back to Affleck's titular character.All that said, I found I was invested in the finale action sequence and wanted each character to succeed, even though they are on opposite sides, which is a sign, for me, of something working well, I just wish things were more focused.7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis).
Doesn't sound like a bad idea at all!!Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) suffers from high-functioning autism but a gifted mathematician who takes up high profile jobs across the world from terrorists, failed states, mafia, cartels etc.
Look also for good performances from Affleck's assigned assistant Anna Kendrick, Cynthia Addai Robinson as Simmons's assistant at Treasury and contact hit man Jon Bernthal who has a most unusual relationship dynamic with Affleck.Enough action to satisfy..
If I was Ben Affleck and handed this script for the movie, I'd take it as it sounds like a good plot, however I'd refuse the part to play an Autistic person whose got super-human powers, an ace sniper shot, excellent heavy machine gun skills and a maths whiz because that's just gone over-board.
Never in my wildest dreams...Did I think I would love watching a movie in which an accountant is the hero and Ben Affleck plays that accountant with such strength and subtle power.
"The Accountant" cannot be commended for much clarity in plot weave and story clarity, yet, thanks to some very committed work by Affleck and some good stylistic choices by O'Connor, it ends up being a very interesting, if fatally flawed filmmaking effort.As I said, what stands out here is Affleck's performance as the title character.
For someone like me who in the past really didn't count him among the ranks of good actors, it is great to see that he has become such a talent on screen, he is able to make out the most of his natural charismatic presence, yet never go off character for the whole film.
He plays this jumpy, off beat role incredibly delicately and his creative choices pay off repeatedly throughout the film, giving the character a real rhythm on the screen and making it very easy for the audience to empathize with this unlikely figure.Unfortunately, not even with talents like Lithgow or Simmons on board, i is possible to sing the praise of the rest of the cast.
The exceptions stand only for the flashback scenes where we are able to get lots of good backstory on Affleck's character.The plot is just insanely convoluted, but even worse the way it is presented to you makes it more so.
Nothing much in "The Accountant" makes a point: I never grasped what meaning there was to any of this, Simmons' monologue is emblematic of this: he goes on talking for ten minutes and once it ends there is absolutely no character mutation, no impact on story, no cleaning of the plot mess.
So let's get started shall we?LIKES:  Convoluted crime story  Comedic relief in the dialogue  Good actionat times  Affleck's portrayalWe all know the crime/drama genre and love when there are deep, convoluted relationships lurking the shadows.
Jk Simmons plays the man in charge of hunting affleck and he gives a great performance, you care about his character even with his lack of screen time.
Jon bernthal fresh off of playing the punisher is good in this film as afflecks opposite, I thought he added allot to his character that a lesser actor couldn't have done.
Three people went full retard in this movie.Ben Affleck's character, the otherwise good actress who played the secretary from "The Americans" and the movie studio who approved it all.This movie was just a mishmash of Hollyweird action movie cliche's.
Don't want to say too much because i don't want to spoiler at hall the story and the development but i really say you can enjoy this movie that it's a good mix between drama thriller and action.
The main character--the one I would like to see return in a sequel--is Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), a nondescript, socially-backward accountant who is not what he seems.That is one of the themes of this film, that things are often not what they seem or incongruous.I think the film is best understood as a superhero story, complete with origins story.
Our hero has no supernatural powers, he just relies on his impressive abilities, like Batman or Jack Reacher or Leon in "The Professional".Though Ben Affleck's performance dominates the film, the entire cast is strong, including Anna Kendrick (as the woman who tries to pierce his veil of anonymity), J.K. Simmons, Jeffrey Tambor, John Lithgow and Jean Smart..
There are actually two story lines, possible even an emergent third storyline that are intertwined all in a mysterious cloak of investigative convolutions that begin to be unraveled in a delicious unclocking among the fascination of Ben Affleck's autistic performance.This is an entertaining and illuminating experience of both action and revealing psychological unveiling of the mental human differences..
Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I thoroughly enjoyed this movie due to the outstanding plot and the acting of Ben Affleck who performed in an excellent manner.
Great little twists towards the end , you will love this one if you like clever movies with some decent action..
The Accountant certainly does not add up to the sum of its parts, being part Rain Man, part The Equalizer.Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a high functioning autistic, brilliant with numbers raised by a military father who had no time with nonsense such as specialist psychologists.
All should be well and good, but while he is having to deal with an account that goes bad - a little in the vein of John Wick, I suppose, someone who doesn't give two f***s thinks they can mess with/kill this 'Christian Wolff' (not his real name) - he also has to deal with conventional screen writing.Okay, that last part is me trying to be too clever in this review, but this is a movie where clearly the hook (or the logline) is amazing: what if someone like a Jason Bourne or a Wick or somebody, a man who comes on the scene, shoots people in the head, and has not an exactly friendly/James Bondian personality, and was fully on the "spectrum"; from childhood this character got traumatized by his militaristic father (and where was the brother?
It's a film that is juggling a lot of balls and may be too long because of it; while JK Simmons is a national treasure among character actors, his role in this film, though with some gravitas and (occasionally) some surprising emotion, is there mostly as a 2nd-turning point exposition dump, with information that would've been helpful to another character (also given a kind of 'you must do this or else' mission that makes little sense, in the circumstances I mean, it never comes back to it).In other words, this sub-plot, which seems to be necessary for some reason, is there mostly to provide us with a man-hunt element for Christian Wolff that isn't necessary.
Here he wipes his emotional radar clean and the audience can put themselves on to him, up to a point, and then when there is the hesitation, those little cracks, it resonates.It's like the movie has the ingredients for a strong director, with O'Connor getting how to make a hit-man (or hit men with Bernthal) move quickly with action that is intense and intelligible, yet also pace it so we can spend time with the characters, and the cast is pretty much on point (also Addai-Robinson, *TV's* Amanda Waller, is good as well, for what she can do), and the script is hit or miss.
The Accountant is an action thriller directed by Gavin O Conner and stars Ben Affleck as the titular character, with supporting performances by JK Simmons, Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey Tambor.
With a cast like this is it really wrong to feel a tad interested in this film?The movie is about a freelance accountant that just so happens to work for some of the most dangerous criminal organisations around, add the fact that he is on the autism spectrum and you've got yourself an enticing character who is pretty much what the entire film is revolved around.The character of Christian Wolff has a lot going on in his life, and coming into a movie like this you would expect to get a glimpse into all of the aspects of himself.
The accountant stars names such as Ben Affleck, JK Simmons, Anna Kendrick and Jon Bernthal.
Somebody with Asperger's may not seem like a good major character in a movie (much less the protagonist), but it certainly works well in "The Accountant" (R, 2:08) – and does so on multiple levels.Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a genius at math, and very skilled at forensic accounting, or "uncooking the books", which he does for unsavory characters and criminal organizations all over the world.
This is a Short Review and contains No Spoilers.The last time I went to a movie theater this year was to watch 'Jason Bourne' and needless to say I was disappointed..After that, I decided not to watch any movie in a theater for a while and I acted upon it until I watched "The Accountant" today.The direction is pretty good, the acting is amazing, the graphics, sounds, plot everything is awesome and the most important of all Ben Affleck is Brilliant in his performance and fits completely in his Character.It's definitely worth the time and money you spend in a theater....
It is just like your usual crime/drama movie, but its autism and accountant setting makes everything a lot more interesting.
What is maybe different here is the combination with a the action thriller and, of course, Ben Affleck's superb performance.There is more good acting in this smart and well paced film.