The Accountant (2016) - Numbers and Bullets - REVIEW

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The Accountant (2016) a Ben Affleck movie that took me some time to watch, I would say more than it should since it was a cool movie, the sequel came out this year so I had to watch both back to back, this are the times when having good movies on your bucket list pays out, nobody can stay on top of everything that comes out now days so I always have a few good movies pending to watch and others that I discover along the way.

The story is touching but at the same time a bit cringy since we fall into the hacker man fallacy, but the overall story of the almost if not incognito super hero / accountant plays out very well and I think the hardest part for Affleck on this movie was to have no facial movement during his scenes, Ben Affleck plays the role of Christian Wolff, an autistic math genius that hard a very hard time growing up for not fitting in society where only his brother and father stood next to him, always teaching and protecting. The movie takes an angle on the family that we often don't see on this type of stories where is Christian's mother who abandon them, him, his father and brother, she left them behind because she couldn't stand Christian been different and his father been in the US Army away most of the time or having to relocate from one place to another. All this adversities turn Chris into a stronger man even if he didn't fit with many and learn how to survive in the concrete jungle. I really enjoy this movie, its not perfect with multiple flaws but very touching on top with a lot of action, besides you cant complain about the action because Affleck didnt have to do much when it comes to expressing any type of feelings.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2140479/
• Platform: MAX

 

Rottentomatoes Rating

Source Source There’s just something about the way it mixes action, drama, and the nerd angle that makes it stand out from your usual lets kill everything that moves movie. I know some people have issues with it because of how the family split and the spot light was on Christian mother is put on but this is just for entertainment this movie just hits the right spot. Christian Wolff is basically thrown into this wild world where he is not just crunching numbers for small town folks who are in need but also laundering money for some really dangerous people, an aspect of the movie that is not develop so much and its something that in my opinion haunts the story latter down the line. Christian is the John Wick of accountants but with spreadsheets instead of a puppy, the character himself is a very sarcastic one as he has close to no sense of humor because of his autism, he has some humor here and there and most of the time jokes hit hard just because that lack of humor.

The Accountant is how it tries to do something different with the action genre with the movie not just about explosions and car chases but having this guy who’s trying to make sense of the world in his own way because he is just different with a good heart, rules can be different depending on the angle you look at them and the movie takes an extreme perspective at it, willing to deal with criminals to help others. The movie pace at a certain point becomes a bit draggy with flashbacks to Christian’s rough childhood, scenes of him being this stone cold killer and then these quieter moments where he is just doing what he loves, shooting, listening to metal or working on company’s cooked books. It’s a weird mix that I haven't seen before until now but it works for me, its true that the movie sometimes try to handle too many things at the time from the accountant, the killer, the math genius, the brother, the hacker and even a double agent, just too many things at once.

The movie has a very mix message when it comes to autism, I guess they wanted to say you can achieve what ever you want but going from accountant to assassin might be too much for a part of the audience, I guess you got to take it with a grain of salt and just look at this movie for what it really is, an action movie and not based on a real life story of an autistic kid who grew up and became an assassin. This also puts a lot of spice on the action hero character, I love how awkward Christian is, he has his own routines and he’s not always easy to root for, the bending laws aspect; but that’s what makes the character interesting. The action is brutal and satisfying with Affleck showing off why he was once Batman but also vulnerable as to why his brother always look after him.

Source Source Ben Affleck does a great job at just not laughing I would say, because there are some really funny moments and the guy remains stone cold, can't imagine how many times the had to reshoot. He plays the role of Christian Wolff as this super reserved, almost robotic guy but there is a lot going on under the surface. You can tell he put a lot of thought into how Christian moves, talks and reacts to things, I keep saying it, keeping that poker face through the entire movie and been so clean in the way he walks and moves can't be easy. He doesn’t do a lot of big emotional scenes but when he does, it hits hard, specially towards the end with his brother Braxton who is the emotional one, who loves his younger brother and Chris too but don't know how to express it. For this movie Affleck’s physic is on point, he looks like he was going to play Batman again and the fight scenes are brutal but I really wanted them to show more about the first fight scene where he kills the Italian guys, I know the movie might not turn into a franchise but just a bit more of context, same goes with his relationship with high profile criminals, this story could really turn into a TV series if they wanted to.

Anna Kendrick brings a sweet girl to the movie as Dana. She is just perfect match for Christian, awkward in her own way too and her scenes with Affleck have a lot of chemistry but the moment you though there was going to be any romance for Chris the script said NOP not tonight and they just cut it off. She doesn’t get as much screen time as I would wanted and at first there were moments when she just come and goes, you know she is on the building but straight out of the scene where she could soften a bit Chris scenes, for example the scene where she and Christian are geeking out over accounting irregularities and it’s actually like they could have been the perfect match.

Jon Bernthal plays the role of Braxton, a stone cold hitman that goes around the world living a wild life, he is Christian brother. Bernthal is the second reason I decided to watch this movie because of his recent role on Daredevil, probably if it wasn't for that I would have put the sequel on my bucket list too. Similar to his role as The Punisher, he got this unpredictable energy, switching from charming to menacing real quick, that is how his relationship with Chris is after so many years of not seen each other, not that Chris didn't miss him is just that he didn't need him physically next to him, its hard not to know how to express feelings.

Source Source The ending of the movie felt empty to be honest, probably its weakest part as it tries to pull together a lot of the threads that have been building up throughout the movie and in my opinion doesn't work out that well. After all the chaos at the robotics company, it turns out that the person behind the fraud and all the violence against certain members of the company is actually Lamar Black, the company’s founder and that is just too cliche. Without knowing, Christian goes against his brother crew who were hired by Lamar, all this time Christian has been following Braxton work and there is a scene where he follows a suspicious guy and Christian recognize him while Braxton only shoot at him as a distraction to disappear without knowing it was Christian, the movie does a great job at hiding it.

The brothers face off in a brutal fight but instead of killing each other they end up reconnecting in their own awkward, emotionally way with Braxton been the more sentimental one. It’s not the type of reunion that will make you drop a tear or anything but you can tell there’s a lot of history and pain between them, specially from Braxton how he felt Christian never care for him. The movie ends with Christian moving on to his next job, still living in the shadows but maybe a little more at peace with himself as he has now found a good part of his past in his brother, they agree on meeting sometime but Chris never set a date.

This post really turn out longer than I though but I felt a connection to it as I feel I'm awkward too, not as much as Chris but there are times I'm just too honest to peoples face, not as trying to diminish them but as in trying to help them figure out whats wrong or when I just want to be alone, aside from the action part of the movie it really made that click for me.

Both Affleck and Bernthal do a great job at the characters and to be honest the rest of the cast did great too, I have zero complains about action but do have some serious ones about the story, there were so many things that just happen without much context or details, the "British" women on the phone wasn't until a very good part ahead of the movie that is reveal who she was and I think it was too late and never gave the proper character development, I would say that is the problem when a movie tries to do too many things at once where it then starts forgetting the important ones, usually left behind, overall a great watch that potentially was not a good candidate for a sequel even after it left the door wide open with the missing pieces but making sequels on 2023 and 2024 was the trend so why not try a movie that was above average.

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