Movie review: ‘The Accountant’

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“Action” films in the 2010s and into today are basically of two types: a karate festival honed to choreographed perfection by actors such as Jason Statham (just take “The Mechanic” reboot, click here to read my review – or the “The Beekeeper,” click here to read my review) or the more common and most awful megahit “superhero” flicks that are as shallow as a summer rain’s puddle and not even as interesting as that puddle. So, it was a nice change to see a somewhat non-action star (Ben Affleck, although he has done “action” as well as “superhero” before) in an “action” film that offered a bit of creativity to go with the usual stereotypes found in such films. It is called “The Accountant” and its sequel arrived in 2025 and I might take a look at that one as well in the future.

‘The Accountant’
(2016; 128 minutes; rated R; directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons and Jon Bernthal)

IT BECOMES ALL IN THE FAMILY

Just like the investigating cop in “The Accountant,” I’m a little put off by the main character having profited from crime through the world’s biggest criminal organizations, only to be shown as a nearly straight-as-an-arrow good guy with best intentions. What I wasn’t put off by is that the film has creative plot twists and that the main character is autistic and thereby driven in his whole life by a force beyond his control.

In “The Accountant,” Ben Affleck is “Christian ‘Chris’ Wolff,” who is a forensic accountant of such a note that the biggest crime syndicates have him come in and analyze their finances to uncover who is stealing from within. At the same time, because of his upbringing by a U.S. Army father, he’s a superior-level martial artist and killer extraordinaire … all while using the cover of running a strip-mall accounting office in the U.S. Midwest.

Wow. OK! So, “The Accountant” is not your usual “action” flick of someone gets pissed off and settles a score.

As for the acting, the supporting cast does an admirable job, but the accomplished group is handcuffed because there’s not much for them to do after the top three in the film: Affleck, Anna Kendrick and Jon Bernthal. You get two-time Oscar nominee and two-time Golden Globe winner John Lithgow; Oscar and Globe winner J.K. Simmons; a two-time Globe winner and six-time Primetime Emmy winner Jean Smart; and Cynthia Addai-Robinson as the agent who uncovers Affleck’s true identity. I’ll let the rest of the review flesh out their characters.

*** BTW: SPOILER ALERT AHEAD ***

In order to do my kind of review, I’ve got to incorporate a spoiler alert, although the majority of the audience will figure it out pretty much as soon as they see it emerge. In any case, here’s a warning if you don’t want the plot twist spoiled for you in a few paragraphs.

Affleck’s autism is fleshed out early in the film with him and his brother being trained by their father in everything from espionage to martial arts.

Affleck is a savant when it comes to math: He brings a laser-point focus to a problem and solves it. Years ago, Affleck met a mob accountant while in prison (he was there from a violent incident at a family funeral where his father was killed). Jeffrey Tambor plays “Francis Silverberg” and teaches Affleck how organized crime works and cooks its books.

Well, through a plot twist, you find that Tambor was released without sufficient protection; caught by his old “friends” in the mob; became the victim of nasty torture and finally killed. Affleck puts some revenge down on the mob “family” by killing a bunch of its top members at the group’s “clubhouse” in New York … and thereby encounters a law enforcement officer that will have a significant part of his future.

However, the film focuses years later (today, as was in 2016) on Affleck being hired to check the books on a multinational corporation and he confirms and identifies a complicated scheme in which one of the founders has been skimming money for years. The theft was spotted by a young member of the company’s financial staff and soon killers are brought in to erase all evidence by eliminating the company employee and Affleck.

At the same time, law enforcement has been focusing on Affleck’s link to criminals, worldwide cartels and terror organizations. They know about the mysterious stranger working for the bad guys, but it takes a maverick agent to find him.

** SPOILER ALERT! **

It all starts to come together as the assassins close in on Affleck and the employee as well as the feds getting closer and closer to him … you find that his brother, who was introduced earlier in the film, is part of the “security” team that’s looking to get the employee and the latter part of the film includes a showdown between the two.

Here’s a look at some of the principal cast:

  • A two-time Oscar winner and two-time winner and two-time nominee of Golden Globes, Afflek has the difficult job of showing emotion with a character that shows no emotion. He does a solid job and is certainly equal to Dustin Hoffman’s effort in “Rain Man” (although I still say Tom Cruise deserved the Oscar over Hoffman in that one). Affleck breezes through this one with aplomb, but, unfortunately, isn’t able to make the character one that you’ll remember for a long time. I’ll understand the character more after seeing the sequel. Affleck won his Oscars for “Good Will Hunting” (writing) and “Argo” (co-producer of “best” film) and was nominated for Globes for acting in “Hollywoodland” and “The Tender Bar.” He was also nominated for four Primetime Emmys for the series “Project Greenlight.” I liked him best as a fallen angel in Kevin Smith’s “Dogma” (click here to read my review) and had a small role in “Boiler Room,” where I cannot fathom why he did such a small part (click here to read my review).
  • An Oscar nominee and Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Anna Kendrick plays “Dana Cummings” and she’s the one who first spots the problem at the company that leads to the whole mess. Kendrick does the best job of all the actors as she conveys her character perfectly and brings “Dana” to life. Without her character’s fresh openness, the film would have sagged more than just a bit. She was nominated for “Up in the Air” and also nominated for a Primetime Emmy for the short “Dummy.” She was also in the “Twilight Saga” franchise as well as the headliner in “Pitch Perfect” and even voiced an episode of “Family Guy.”
  • A Primetime Emmy winner and nominee, Bernthal plays Affleck’s brother “Braxton ‘Brax’ Wolff” and while I’m disappointed in how his character is treated, I’m not disappointed in his effort. The character’s importance becomes obvious quickly (see earlier spoiler alert), but isn’t written well into the screenplay and deserved more time in telling his story. From the trailer, I see the sequel will have him in a more prominent role. In any case, he’s straightforward as “Brax” and doesn’t fumble it and drag down the film. He won and was nominated for the series “The Bear” and has also been in “The Wolf of Wall Street” and the World War II story “Fury” with Brad Pitt (click here to read my review). Bernthal has also been in “King Richard” and played Lee Iacocca in “Ford v Ferrari” (click here to read my review).
  • I’d like to say Addai-Robinson as “Marybeth Medina” is a “newcomer” in Hollywood, but she has four-dozen acting credits as of the summer of 2025. I just don’t watch many new films since most are either “superhero” crap or look boring, so I haven’t seen her work before. Addai-Robinson does a solid job as the somewhat rogue agent tracks down Affleck and winds up on his side. She delivers just the right amount of “oomph” into the character and I look forward to seeing her in the sequel as well as other films. Addai-Robinson was twice nominated by the Women’s Image Network for the miniseries “Texas Rising” and has also been in tee-vee series such as “Spartacus” and “Arrow.”
  • Simmons plays “Ray King” and he’s the supervising agent trying to identify and locate Affleck. He doesn’t do as much with the character as you’d like, since he is an Oscar winner and should have done better. Simmons gets acceptable screen time and has the interesting backstory of having survived a meeting where Affleck wipes out a Mafia family, but it’s not a complete effort. Simmons, who gained national attention via insurance ads on tee-vee, won his Oscar and Globe for “Whiplash” and was nominated for “Being the Ricardos.” He was also in the execrable “The Jackal” with Richard Gere (click here to read my review) and I liked him in “Thank You for Smoking” as the back-stabbing boss (click here to read my review). He was also in “La La Land” and was “J. Jonah Jameson” in the “Spider-Man” franchise.
  • Sadly, Lithgow and Smart, playing siblings “Lamar Blackburn” and “Rita Blackburn,” are just window-dressing in the film as the company’s CEO and his sister. The only good thing about her character is that she gets whacked much more quickly and how Affleck dispatches his character. Neither get a chance to show his or her abilities (although Lithgow gets a little better opportunity), but don’t do a bad job, either. Lithgow was nominated for Oscars for “The World According to Garp” and the pathetic snifflebag called “Terms of Endearment.” I liked his very small part in Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz” (click here to read my review). Smart is most likely best remembered for her work on “Designing Women,” but her wins include the more recent tee-vee series “Hacks” and the mini-series “Watchmen.” For all of Lithgow’s awards … click here. For all of Smart’s awards … click here.

You simply cannot go wrong with “The Accountant” because it goes beyond the usual violent film released over the past several years (and, most likely, for many more to come – just like horror flicks once burned out the genre as one tried to outdo the other with more and more graphic gore). Director Gavin O’Connor, who also directed the sequel to “The Accountant,” does a wonderful job balancing telling a story with creative angles and blistering violence. O’Connor earned Sundance Film Festival awards for “Tumbleweeds” and directed Edward Norton and Colin Farrell in “Pride and Glory.”

BTW, the only time I’ve seen the character of a highly-functioning autistic accountant was on the tee-vee series “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” where the autistic accountant became part of a criminal enterprise. Mark Linn-Baker played “Wally Stevens” in the episode “Probability” (season 2, episode 14) and, like Affleck with “Christopher Wolff,” did a solid job with the character.

“The Accountant” did a respectable job at the U.S. box office and was 35th highest-grossing film of the year with $85.8 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. The No. 1 film was “Finding Dory” with $486.2 million, while “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” was at No. 2 with $408.2 million and at No. 3 was “Captain America: Civil War” with $408 million. Interestingly, the Walt Disney Company had five of the top seven films for a total of more than $2 BILLION at the U.S. box office. Here are the other films from 2016 that I’ve reviewed for my blog:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Affleck’s birth name is Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt and he’s 6-foot-3 (and no Hollywood micro-man); Kendrick’s middle name is Cooke; for Simmons, the J.K. stands for Jonathan Kimble; Addai-Robinson was born in London; and Lithgow’s nickname is “Jiggles.”
  • Affleck has been quoted as saying this one of his favorite films.
  • From the “really?” category: There was discussions of a decision whether to have Mel Gibson direct and and therefore a decision to have Will Smith star in this movie. Really? Two worse decisions could not have been found.
  • Another discussion that was interesting was to have the Coen brothers direct. Now, that would have been an interesting match to this film.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “The paintings featured in the film are: ‘Woman with Parasol and Child’ by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1874; ‘A Friend in Need’ (‘Dogs Playing Poker’) by Cassius Coolidge, 1903; and ‘Free Form’ by Jackson Pollock, 1946.”
  • The Ravenite Social Club shown in the film was the actual “clubhouse” (headquarters) for an infamous mob boss: the late John Gotti, who once headed the Gambino crime family.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “The martial art mainly on display is a variety of Indonesian Pencak Silat, which is also seen in The Raid: Redemption (2011).”

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