The Accountant 2
review by Bobby Blakey
In 2016 Warrior and The Way Back director Gavin O’Connor teamed up with Ben Affleck for the action flick The Accountant. Since then there has been talk of a sequel but little movement until recently. Now the follow up aptly titled The Accountant 2 is almost here co-starring Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, Allison Robertson and J.K. Simmons. Could this next chapter bring more of the same action, or will it fail to balance the books?
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The Accountant 2 follows Christian Wolff who has a talent for solving complex problems. When an old acquaintance is murdered, leaving behind a cryptic message to “find the accountant,” Wolff is compelled to solve the case. Realizing more extreme measures are necessary, Wolff recruits his estranged and highly lethal brother, Brax, to help. In partnership with U.S. Treasury Deputy Director Marybeth Medina, they uncover a deadly conspiracy, becoming targets of a ruthless network of killers who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.
The first film was one of those awesome surprises filled with action and some great twists. Like most I wanted a sequel to see what more action he could get into, but with the twists already exposed what fresh direction or new elements could they deliver? This next chapter brings the action fans want, but I was happy they changed the tone a bit to something like Lethal Weapon with some laughs within the action. Bringing Affleck and Bernthal together here allowed them to delve deeper into their life and relationship and it is the highlight of the film.
The film lets the audience into their relationship, which is the heart and fun of the film in both their interactions as well as the action. It also plays more into the issues being on the spectrum that Affleck’s character deals with. We got that in the first film as well, but here it is in more of a social setting including the dating scene which brings more humor to the foreground humanizing him even more.
He still puts his skills the test in solving this new issue and leads to some great uses of his other skillset in killing.
I was surprised that there wasn’t more action, but it allowed the film to evolve within these other aspects better and not feel as forced as it might otherwise. It also replaces the twists of the first film to make it its own thing and not just feel like a rehash. There is also a more in-depth look into the mysterious voice revealed in the first film in a way that is all kinds of fun even if not fully believable in their full access to everything.
The action that is here including the way bigger finale than the first film is top notch. It is filled with perfectly executed fight sequences and all the gun play you could want made even better with these brothers fighting side by side. These two guys are great together and this film is the perfect pairing of them as well as follow-up to the original film that kind of gets it a unneeded but welcome reboot. If there is any issue with the film, it’s that there is no real villain here just mostly just faceless people to be killed and yet it still works just fine.
If you missed it in theaters now is your chance to check it out at home when The Accountant 2 hits Prime Video on June 5th from Amazon MGM Studios.