Joe the Movie Guy reviews The Accountant

accountant-copy
accountant-copy

By: Joseph Hammerschmidt, the KGRG Movie Guy

Who is “The Accountant”? More like who is Ben Affleck? Mere months ago, the esteemed actor nearly allowed his credibility to go lapse in portraying a character whose wardrobe eludes bitter darkness. Needless to say, “The Accountant” is a step back in the right direction for his resume, one which has seen multiple hits and misses; luckily this one will fall in the former column, setting the stage for his directorial return in next March’s “Live By Night”.

Affleck’s job description as the titular accountant, Christian Wolff, can be boiled down to three words: elusive, complex and intuitive. His clients are unsavory, yet his background is unmatchable. Born a child with high-functioning autism (HFA), Christian grows up an esteemed accountant, although in reality, he’s using his multiple layers of business sense (thank goodness for the “steady as a rock” performance of Jeffrey Tambor) and combat training, as well as his experience as a military kid to not only cook the books of prospective clients, but also eliminate them where applicable. Wolff, through his complexity and elusiveness, becomes the target of three unique teams, a client and their founder (John Lithgow) who, on the surface is doing no wrong, but cut deeper, and you’d see the discrepancy; a Treasury advisor (JK Simmons, in an effectively subdued role) and his protege (Cynthia Addae-Robinson), working to uncover the secret behind the mystery man, and a hitman (Jon Bernthal), who falls in business-related cahoots with the client rep once they discover the secret double identity of the accountant, whom he swears to kill, along with newfound associate Dana (Anna Kendrick).

Gavin O’Connor (Warrior, Jane Got a Gun) treats Bill Dubuque’s script with a firm dignity, aware of the serious weight around it. The challenge for O’Connor, I felt was to make Affleck stand out like we were viewing these incidents through his brokered perspective. Their collaboration made the attempt so effortless, you’d wonder why this didn’t actually happen in real life. At the same time, the merits given because it is a purely original story make the journey all the more fun. Going into this film, I was expecting something more in the line of Hitman or The Mechanic; what I received was a purely brilliant half-actioner, half-heart tugger, with enough room for trace elements of thought-provoking. For everyone involved, particularly Kendrick, Bernthal, Lithgow and even Jane Fonda for a brief spell, they feel they belong in this story, and one would also say, had this film been created a decade prior, the cast would be that universal, no changes would’ve been necessary.

As for the star, this project was a soul-searching move, and it shows. After “Batman v. Superman”, it looked clear Ben was aiming to remind himself of what his abilities are, and not to get himself tied down to the gravitational lure of a franchise. What I saw in “The Accountant” was a return to the welcome usual from films past. Not quite a young kid anymore, and not yet an elder statesman; just pushing that middle ground. The relationships formed between co-stars are above natural, and the detailed complexity already found in the actor is just as approachable through the character. That being said, given the Treasury agent’s history with Christian, you’ll probably wonder why there hadn’t been more with Simmons. This is a simple tale for a once simple time, where one person’s struggles inadvertently represent all our’s. With all the smarts, surprise and wit one would expect, as well as the dramatic introspection of a great character study, “The Accountant” stands out better than the results on most ledger books as one of the best movies of 2016; too early to rank anything just yet. Driven to succeed, it challenges the traditional action-drama to be more. And much like the title character, it doesn’t cease in pulling off more than more. (B+)

“The Accountant” is rated R for strong violence and language throughout. Playing in several theaters. 128 minutes.

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