With the star power of Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick, this film is one of the most anticipated releases of the year. The Accountant tells the story of Christian Wolff, a maths whizz who works as a freelance accountant for some very dangerous criminal operations. This movie is a lot of fun; something the trailer doesn’t touch on is the lighthearted manner in which the main character’s misunderstandings of people is approached.
This movie is a lot of fun; something the trailer doesn’t touch on
Affleck portrays a character with autism; and the two-time Oscar winning actor does a great job conveying his neuro-atypicality to the audience, in one of his best performances for a long time. It is helped by some delightful chemistry with Anna Kendrick, who gives a charming rendition of a ditzy but heartfelt junior accountant. The movie also boasts an excellent supporting cast of J.K Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor, Cynthia Addai-Robinson and John Lithgow who all give fine performances.
Here lies the main problem with this film, all these actors are playing someone with their own intricate motives
Here lies the main problem with this film, all these actors are playing someone with their own intricate motives. This develops into multiple storylines which, when they are all revealed in a very heavy handed exposition via dialogue, become overwhelming and somewhat confusing. This is a problem with the screenplay that was written by Bill Dubuque; too many plot lines lead to a bewildering few moments near the end that you wouldn’t expect in a popcorn thriller such as this. However, if it wasn’t for the brilliant director Gavin O’Connor, of Warrior, fame this movie would probably have been a disaster. He does his best job to separate these complex stories and flashbacks, as well as putting some stunning action to camera.
Overall, it is a good time at the pictures, but if you go in thinking it’s going to be a totally serious spine-chilling masterpiece you’re going to be disappointed.
James Berman
Image courtesy of Warner Bros.