The Accountant (2016)

Directed by Gavin O’Connor; produced by Lynette Howell Taylor and Mark Williams

Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a mathematical genius, a loner, because his autism makes him feel an outsider. His accounting skills, however, have made of him a favourite of rich businesses, not always legitimate, which are suffering irregularities in their books. His past and present assignments have brought upon him the attention of both the U.S. government and an underworld hit-man. What they don’t know, though, is that Wolff has deadlier skills than that embodied in a pencil.

An interesting and entertaining action flick with an unusual hero, The Accountant suffers a bit from an overly complicated plot, and, perhaps, a coincidence that’s rather too large. This is the fault of the writing which, however, compensates with an involving and sympathetic main protagonist and a decent script. Wolff is a man whose extraordinary behaviour we can appreciate, and with whose condition we can empathise. I don’t pretend to understand the complexities of autism, so I cannot gauge the accuracy of the character’s situation. (To be fair, I don’t think it is definitely stated in the movie that Wolff is autistic; at one point that condition is listed as something someone identified as Wolff might have.) Nonetheless, within the context of the story, that with which Wolff must contend is made realistic.

As well, Affleck’s performance is commendable. He is not an actor I favour greatly; in most of the movies I have seen him act, he tends to over-emote. Here, it is the opposite; he is reticent to the point of seeming emotionless, though the audience realises that this is a matter of self-preservation more than real feelings. The restraint Affleck shows as part of the character is perfectly suited for the portrayal, and accentuates the isolation in which Wolff lives, an isolation partly self-imposed.

Even so, Wolff’s personality is not simple. As others in The Accountant come to see, he lives by his own moral code, which usually places hm on the side of the angels. He has sympathy for those who have been treated poorly by life, and is ferociously loyal to the few friends he has made.

There is unexpected humour in the script, as well. This is usually provided by other characters than Wolff, or by their interaction with him. In particular, Jon Bernthal as a mysterious hitman and Anna Kendrick as a much less gifted fellow accountant do well. J K Simmons has a role that provides his character with unexpected depth - though this in itself makes one question his initial actions with regard to a colleague (Cynthia Addai-Robinson).

Such a movie as this must have a director who knows how to handle the genre’s scenes. O’Connor does very well in this regard. There are plenty of shoot-outs and hand-to-hand fighting, though none of it seems repetitious, which can be a danger in such movies. Though there is quite a bit of violence, there is surprisingly little blood and gore, which is to be applauded: this puts the emphasis on excitement, rather than brutality, which, really, has as little a place in a thriller as does gore in a horror movie.

The Accountant is a movie that has all the shootings and fisticuffs one would want in an action flick while providing character and sub-text that goes a little deeper than the usual superficiality of the genre.