The Accountant 2 (dir. Gavin O’Connor)
By: Adam Freed
Ben Affleck’s career can be fairly described as one of tremendous highs and a very few infamous lows. The A-list actor and Academy award-winning writer (Good Will Hunting) and producer (Argo) has made very few films that occupy the middle ground. This unmemorable, yet serviceable patch of film history is precisely where Affleck’s 2016 film The Accountant plants its flag. The functional action film centered around a neurodivergent man named Christian Wolff, trained by his father into becoming a deadly assassin. What makes this somewhat indistinct log line come to life is the fact that Wolff is also a savant, and to witness the shortcomings of his social interactions, one could not help but to root for the high functioning autistic main character. The Accountant acts as a valuable proof of concept in which there was enough meat left on the bone and enough room for story expansion to prompt what is, for some, the long awaited sequel The Accountant 2.
Nearly a decade after the release of director Gavin O’Connor’s original film, a few things have changed for the landscape of the director’s cast. Most notably in the career of co-lead Jon Bernthal, who plays Braxton Wolff, Christian’s irascible brother, who is also a highly trained gun for hire. Bernthal, (The Wolf of Wall Street, King Richard) played a much smaller role in the original film, something that given the trajectory of his career and the palpable chemistry that he shares with Affleck, made expanding his role an easy decision. The Wolff brothers find themselves knee deep in the investigation of the murder of the director of the United States Treasury. The director, Ray King, is once again played by J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) but here acts only as a plot device worthy of investigation. After his demise in the film’s bracingly paced opening sequence, King is replaced by a hand selected Marybeth Medina, played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Power, Chicago Med), who very aptly compliments the laudable dynamic established between Affleck and Bernthal.
As magnetic as Affleck can be as a leading man, his character Christian Wolff lives with a form of neurodivergence that prevents Affleck from leaning into one of his most prominent performance gifts, his charming wit and excellent comedic timing. This form of character based suppression is the key to The Accountant 2 unleashing its hidden superpower, Jon Bernthal, who absolutely steals the film. Even though it is billed as an action film, a qualification that it certainly meets, The Accountant 2 comes to life on the strength of the comedically strained relationship between the brothers. Through their alluring rapport, Bernthal and Affleck provide genre fans some very favorable comparisons to Danny Glover and Mel Gibson of Lethal Weapon (1987) fame. Gavin O’Connor seems far more willing to allow Bernthal to chew up long stretches of the film, much to the benefit of all involved, than he was in the 2016 original.
One of the most difficult responsibilities held by a sequel is to expand upon an already established universe created by the original source material. This is a mission that The Accountant 2 takes very seriously. So serious in fact that one cannot escape the feeling that perhaps the sequel overburdens its scope, leaving its plot somewhat thinner than intended. Fans of The Accountant are going to feel satiated by the sequel’s willingness to lean back into what worked about the original film. There are plenty of holes that can be punched in the overly long and overly expansive sequel, but audiences can do far worse than spending two hours with Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal in pursuit of settling a few well deserved scores this tax season.
Target Score 6.5/10 - Bolstered by the compelling dynamic shared between stars Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal, The Accountant 2 is a welcome addition to the franchise. The mildly bloated second film comes nicely equipped with personality, which papers over a few of its notable shortcomings.