‘The Accountant 2’ – An actor’s action movie

Of all the action heroes from the past decade, the last one I expected to revisit was Christian Wolff – the accountant. The first film, centred on an autistic assassin with a mind for mathematics, was decent enough, bolstered by a committed performance from Ben Affleck. Still, the story didn’t exactly leave me craving a sequel. Yet here we are, eight years later, and audiences are getting just that as the highly skilled numbers man is once again pulled into a conspiracy only he can unravel.

With his former associate found dead, the accountant gets to work, this time enlisting the help of his estranged sibling Braxton, played by Jon Bernthal. Together, the two trauma bond over their messed up childhoods and try to set aside petty squabbling so that they can help an innocent child trapped in a prison camp. At least they should, but more often than not, these characters display the kind of juvenile behaviour you’d expect to see in a kindergarten classroom.

It’s this bond between brothers that elevates The Accountant 2 over its predecessor. The sequel takes its characters to greater heights, giving them something more to do than scowl menacingly and pose for cool action shots. There’s an expansion to the roles that’s informed by the siblings’ shared history and the film’s insistence in putting them in situations that are adjacent to the main plot.

Some will find this deviation distracting, but for me, it’s what made the movie worth watching. The story of a one-man army taking on droves of enemies to rescue an innocent has been told time and time again, but hardly do you see that one-man army awkwardly navigate a speed-dating montage, something that seems to terrify him, more so than an M16 to the face.

The Accountant 2 thrives in its character work, once again standing out as an actor’s action movie. Jon Bernthal brings both vulnerability and ferocity while placing Christian Wolff in more social situations gives Ben Affleck room to evolve his performance, adding new layers to a character he had already portrayed with depth.

For all its strides, The Accountant 2 suffers from many of the original’s downfalls. The main plot is still needlessly convoluted and is riddled with more clichés than bullets. It showcases autism with an in-depth portrayal yet still presents it as being equivalent to superhuman abilities. What’s most important is that the film never misses an opportunity to be entertaining, with many more comedic moments and some superb direction. The Accountant 2 was the pleasant surprise I never knew I wanted.

Rating: Half Price

Damian Levy is a film critic and podcaster for Damian Michael Movies.