Directed by: Gavin O' Connor
Starring: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, JK Simmons, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor, Robert C. Treveiler
Christian Wolff (Affleck) is an autistic accountant with clients ranging from mobsters to drug cartels to ordinary farmers looking for tax breaks. He is a brilliant analyst who finds it difficult to interact with other people due to his autism. He also is an expert in hand-to-hand combat and hitting targets with his rifle from one mile away. Christian is so bad ass, I was halfway expecting a disclaimer in the closing credits stating, "This film is not an accurate depiction of autism," in order to quell any potential protests from autism advocates who cringe at how coldly violent Christian can be.
Perhaps I'm looking too deeply into that aspect of The Accountant, which is an above-average action thriller containing some thought-provoking twists that aren't just thrown in for a cheap surprise. We learn the true nature of Wolff's activities. We understand why he chooses to live a life of changing identities and why he keeps his belongings in a mobile storage unit he can hitch to a pickup truck at a moment's notice and light out for other towns. We also see him connect in a more meaningful way than before to Dana Cummings (Kendrick), an accountant for an Illinois robotics lab run by Lamar Black (Lithgow) and discovers millions missing from the books. Wolff is brought in to find out who stole the money and how. He then discovers his caring side for others when Dana's life is threatened by hired goons who want to kill her. Knowing years of effective Lithgow villain performances, we know there is more to him than meets the eye.
Another subplot involves FBI agent Ray King (Simmons), who is soon to retire, but wants to find out the identity of this mysterious accountant who looks into the books of the world's most notorious people and lives to tell about it. The guns and the martial arts surely help with that. King enlists (more like blackmails) analyst Marybeth Medina (Addai-Robinson) with a hidden past to find out who the accountant is. It is not for reasons you may expect. Turns out there is a back story between King and Christian.
The goons after Dana (and ultimately Christian) are led by Brax (Bernthal) who is as talkative as Christian is not. Yet, he is lethal and skilled. His final showdown with Christian unfolds in an unexpected way as well, making it more inspired than inevitable. The Accountant is very skillful at confounding viewer expectations. What seems pedestrian is anything but. The pieces of the plot fit together like a jigsaw puzzle Christian quickly puts together in the beginning, when Christian's parents take him to an expert on autism who knows all too well about its limitations on people afflicted with it.
The Accountant is no more about autism than Superman is about interstellar aliens. It presents us with an unusual character who does what he is trained to do (accounting and thrashing bad guys) and manages to somehow grow a little at a time. He is willing to jeopardize his own existence which is dominated by routine and rituals to save Dana. "I have trouble interacting socially with others, but I want to," he tells Dana in a rare moment when he lets his guard down. The role plays to Affleck's strengths and allows him some wiggle room within a seemingly rigid person. JK Simmons takes a character we think we have figured out and shows us some depth we didn't anticipate. Ditto for Bernthal, who is far from a typical villain. Anna Kendrick once again shows us the same lovable, vulnerable charm we saw in Up in the Air (2009). Maybe her lack of guile is what causes Christian to want to protect her.
So what I got from The Accountant is a movie not content with simply being a routine thriller. Gavin O'Connor, who directed Miracle and Warrior, shows us once again what an adept action director he is. He has a nice sense of pacing. The Accountant could have easily been a movie made to rake in a Number One opening weekend and soon disappear after a couple of profitable weeks. But, it is more complex than that and delights in showing us the tricks it has up its sleeve.
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