I love a good thriller, action film, mystery or any
combination of the three. When you can not only join those three together but
add a new twist to it, something not done before, it makes it even better. So
it is that I can’t recommend the movie THE ACCOUNTANT enough.
Ben Affleck plays Christian Wolff, a high level autistic man
with an incredible ability to work with numbers. But he’s more than that.
Christian also has the skills of a master assassin. Those skills are put to use
but not in the way you would think.
The film moves back and forth in time, showing Christian as
a young boy learning to deal with the autism that is a daily part of his life
and then as adult Affleck. That’s the real twist here, the story of a man with
what many would consider a disability who puts it to use for good in the
strangest way. Christian works for numerous illegal enterprises handling their
books. In return he makes plenty of money as well as being paid in various
items. It also gives him access to people in need of help.
As the film progresses we discover that the Treasury
Department is searching for Christian, not by name but as the Accountant. He’s
been spotted in the background of those illegal goings on, been named and now
they’re targeting him. Special agent Ray King brings in Marybeth Medina
(Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to lay the groundwork and do the investigating. He’s
found out about her checkered past and uses that to force her into doing this
for him. In return he’ll help her career and ignore her history.
Christian is hired by a robotics company to delve into their
books, trying to find discrepancies that were noted totaling into the millions.
He is aided by a young bookkeeper at the company, Dana Cummings (Anna
Kendrick). He finds the problem but before he can dig deep enough to find out
who is responsible he’s taken off the job at full pay. Due to his autism this
digs at him and his compulsion to complete any job given to him.
But then people start dying, none of natural causes. Soon
Christian realizes that his life is in danger as is that of Dana since she
helped when she could. Now both are on the run from the killers while trying to
figure out who is behind it all. As they do so Dana begins to discover that
Christian isn’t the mild mannered accountant that she thought at first.
This may seem like giving a lot of information about the
movie but in truth it is the bare basics. As much could be learned by paying
attention to the trailer for the film. But the combination of writing,
directing, acting and more make for a riveting thriller that holds you captive
until the credits begin to roll. Everyone involved here have come together to
make a movie that I for one will want to watch more than once.
Affleck does an amazing job as Christian displaying his
abilities as an actor when it comes to showing the autistic side of his
character and then switching up to the action sequences smoothly showing the
other side of the character. Kendrick does a fine job but isn’t given much to
do here. Simmons turns in his usual well done performance but offers a few
surprises of his own. And Addai-Robinson, a new face to me, shows that she has
what it takes to get more featured rolls.
At the heart of it all is the story that captivates the
viewer. It takes a topic that is usually reserved for disease-of-the-week
status and inserts it into something completely different. Then it twists and
turns the story around that basic concept and makes it something unique. For me
this movie was one that held me in its grip from start to finish and caught me
off guard as well. That’s rare these days and make this a movie that I can’t
recommend highly enough.
Click here to order.
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