Trouble Socializing

The Accountant

Love or hate him, Ben Affleck has had a topsy-turvy career. A lot of us remember the blunders like Gigli, Pearl Harbor, and Daredevil (though I stand my statements that this isn’t entirely his fault). However Mr. Affleck has had some success in this industry. I did enjoy his Batman and all of his directorial outings including Gone Baby Gone and The Town. The range of type of characters Affleck has played is extensive, but he has never has taken on the type of character the he has with his newest film. This year Warner Bros. gives us a Ben Affleck that does a lot more than people’s taxes in The Accountant.

The Story: Treasury agent Ray King (J. K. Simmons Justice League) is retiring in a few weeks, but he has one case that he needs to be resolved to clear his conscience. The case is to find an elusive “money man” for every major crime organization in the world. This shadowy man is Christian Wolff (Affleck), a highly functional autistic accountant. Though what makes Wolff different than other accountants is his ability to protect himself with firearms and with hand to hand combat. Needing to lay low for a while, Wolff tries to take on a legitimate client and so decides to help an up and coming robotics company founded by Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow Interstellar). However when Wolff starts to shift through the numbers, his life and the life of the young accountant (Anna Kendrick Trolls) that noticed the discrepancy in the company’s numbers is placed in real danger.

The Good: As I opened this review, I stated that Ben Affleck has had a tumultuous career, but I strongly believe that since Gone Baby Gone Affleck has been on the up and up. I strongly think that Affleck is a better director than actor, but I also think that his recent performances have shown that maybe his directing is helping his acting. Here in The Accountant Affleck is able to give us a sympathetic hero that at the same time (maybe because of his atrocious social skills or his mental state) is unflinching in his brutal execution of bad guys. Ben has given the world a perfect blend of John Wick and Jason Bourne, which I applaud him greatly for. Affleck pulls in and out of these beautifully choreographed action scenes magnificently. I would have to say that Affleck now has the upper hand on his best friend Matt Damon on best onscreen fight. I did like the flashbacks as well due to the fact that we get a glimpse of where Wolff comes from and a small sample of his motivation.

The Bad: Here is my problem with this movie, everything and anyone that isn’t named Ben Affleck is almost an afterthought to the whole plot to this movie. Ms. Kendrick is sorely mis-used and/or underused, J.K. Simmons ‘ hard exterior is so quickly erased by the middle of the movie, and the fantastic Jon Bernthal (Marvel’s The Punisher) is underutilized as the antagonist. Kendrick is the reason that Affleck’s Wolff takes on the bad guys, but it just seemed like the writers needed a little comedic relief and/or woman flare that they just added someone to balance out the genders in the film. When it comes to Simmons, he starts off the film as a jerk with this hard Whiplash-type exterior and by the middle of the film he turns wildly sympathetic to the audience and the man he is chasing. Maybe it was because Simmons didn’t want to copy that type of performance or something, but I thought he should have stayed the course with his character. The biggest let down of the film is the use of Bernthal. Has lethal has we have seen on season two of Marvel’s Daredevil, I would have thought that the filmmakers would have expanded his fight skills and we would have seen him tear it up a little more on screen. However, he is only really used as some mysterious ‘fixer’ that doesn’t really fix anything.

The Verdict: This was really a polarizing movie for me because I loved Affleck and all of the action sequences, but I just couldn’t get on board with anyone else in this film. I will say that if you do like these characters, the film is set up like the start of a franchise and maybe we can flesh out a little more on Wolff and what makes him tick. I dare say that this is a good action film and maybe a good date film, but don’t walk in the theater expecting anything mind blowing.

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