TL;DR – A surprisingly fun romp that finds a way to make an odd 8-year-old sequel work in the context of now.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

The Accountant 2 Review –

When I got the invitation to see The Accountant 2, I was honestly surprised. I had not heard much about a sequel, and I think that the first film might have aged a bit better than some of its contemporaries. I still only have vague recollections of the movie with an interesting premise, a strong performance, but it is also profoundly messy on every level. But, even if that first film didn’t quite live up to the potential it merited, there was enough there for me to wonder what would happen if they got a second bite at the apple, and this is what we are looking at today.

So, to set the scene, it has been eight years since The Accountant and Christian “Chris” Wolff (Ben Affleck) is still auditing banks and deals for organised crime, travelling around in a trailer home, and also giving tips to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Well, the former head of the FinCEN, Raymond King (J. K. Simmons), is only semi-retired because now and again, he picks up a case that means something to him. But when a meeting with a mysterious woman (Daniella Pineda) goes wrong, he leaves a note for his successor Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to contact The Accountant. Because only they might be able to solve this puzzle.

I’ll be honest, I don’t think I walked into this film with any real expectations. The first film didn’t really endear itself to me, and I was not sure what space this new sequel would be working in. But despite this, or maybe because of this, I found myself having a blast with this film. It turns out that the second time can be the charm when you really start digging into what makes the characters work. The first strength of the narrative is that they have ditched all the awkward jumping into the past, which helped sink the last narrative, so they are able to focus on the best part, the bond between two brothers with a lot of history, but also not that much of actual time together.

It should be said that Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal have phenomenal chemistry in this film. The narrative might have had to pull off a couple of backflips to get them working together, but I am glad they did because every moment was gold. There are, of course, the more comedic moments that two brothers might have with each other. But there is also a mound of tension, resentment, and awkwardness that goes to the heart of their relationship. This brought layers to the film that might not have been there otherwise, and I am not sure that it would have worked without it.

I liked that it was clear that there had been some real character growth in the eight years since we last checked in with Chris, with him trying to become more sociable inclined but also failing at it spectacularly. This lets Ben have some incredible moments just by using his facial expressions, which was a delight to see. Also, as an Australian, I now need to perform a sacred rendition of Nutbush. On the flip side, it is clear that Jon Bernthal put his whole heart into this film. There are some scenes at the start where he shows complete vulnerability in a very exposed way, and I have to give full respect to his acting skills when he gets to the place he went to. Every moment the two characters are on screen is a chaotic mess in all the best ways, and I loved every bit of it.

From a production side of things, there are not that many action scenes in the film, but each one is constructed well, and bar one grenade moment in the final never felt cheesed. There are a lot of moments when you feel a crunch all the way into your body, and there was at least one moment at the start of the film where you heard half of the audience wince in sympathetic pain. Another strength is how stunning this film looks. When you have a cinematographer who has worked on everything from Anna Karenina to Godzilla and everything in between, you know it is going to be good. But it is so lovely to see an action film take lighting seriously. Framing all the conversations between the brothers is done not in just simple shots/reverse shots but by playing with space and emotions.  

If there are things that hold it back a bit, it is once again a bit of the narrative. It slips from chaotic to messy in parts of the film. This is probably not helped by a weak central antagonist and a lot of story beats that you have to just handwave away to keep going with the film. I think they did a good job of bookending Daniella Pineda’s character; however, I think she gets lost in the mix as we go through the bulk of the film. It would have been great if Marybeth Medina had used more than just being a narrative roadblock at times. Also, not to get into spoilers, but there is a sequence towards the end involving children that profoundly unsettled me. Now, I am reasonably sure this was the intent, but as I sit here writing this review, I am not sure how I feel about it.

In the end, do we recommend The Accountant 2? Yes, we would. I think that this is a significant improvement from the first film, which already showed some interesting concepts. It also shows just what a vital job casting is. Have you watched The Accountant 2? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked The Accountant 2, we would recommend to you The Beekeeper.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Accountant 2
Directed by – Gavin O’Connor
Written by – Bill Dubuque
Based on – The Accountant by Bill Dubuque
Music by – Bryce Dessner
Cinematography by – Seamus McGarvey
Edited by – Richard Pearson
Production/Distribution Companies – Artist’s Equity, Amazon MGM Studios, Universal Studios & Warner Bros Pictures.
Starring – Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J.K. Simmons, Allison Robertson, Alison Wright, Daniella Pineda, Robert Morgan, Grant Harvey, Andrew Howard, Yael Ocasio, Lombardo Boyar, Michael Tourek, Fernando Funan Chien, Abner Lozano, Talia Thiesfield, Presley Alexander, Nik Sanchez, Corwin Ireland, Avery Taylor, Vincent Juskalian, John Patrick Jordan, Alberto Manquero, Todd Stashwick, Cassandra Blair, Megan Grano, Catherine Adell, Liesel Kopp, Monica Bhatnagar, Joe Holt, Erica Johnson & Dominique Domingo.
Rating  – Australia: MA15+; Canada: 14A; Germany: 16; New Zealand: R; United Kingdom: 15; United States: R