The Accountant

An autistic math genius (Ben Affleck) who takes the names of famous mathematicians as cover identities works as a forensic accountant for criminal organizations. His latest client, a robotics company headed by Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow), initially seems like a change of pace, but after he and in-house accountant Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) uncover an embezzlement scheme, their lives are endangered. Meanwhile, retiring Treasury official Ray King (J.K. Simmons) has tasked analyst Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) with bringing the accountant down.

From Rain Man to Cube, films have had the unfortunate habit of stereotyping autistic individuals as socially impaired savants. At first glance, The Accountant, appears to continue this trend. However, Affleck’s protagonist is actually a subversion, for while he is skilled at computation and somewhat socially awkward, he is also successful, independent, and a deadly fighter and marksman (more on that later). By giving “Christian Wolff” a number of ritualistic behaviors (i.e. repeating a nursery rhyme as a calming mechanism) while refusing to allow him to be defined solely by them, Affleck and screenwriter Bill Dubuque successfully created a complex, fully realized character. His is not the only character here that defies cliché. Dana does not become a romantic interest, King is not a Javert-like bureaucrat, and even the primary villain is given a plausible motivation.

Unfortunately, these characters are wedded to a dumb, contrived action plot. The in-story rationale for “Christian” being a lethal combatant is that his military officer father trained him from a young age as a way of helping him cope. Right. Maybe Affleck got jealous of all that Matt Damon was able to do as Jason Bourne, maybe he wanted to practice fisticuffs in between outings as Batman, or maybe he felt the need to compensate for the passiveness of autistic characters in previous films. Whatever the rationale, executing headshots with improbable aim or disabling assassins at close range works against the nuance of the characterization. It isn’t that the action sequences are poorly filmed – to the contrary, the fights make good use of Indonesian-style martial arts and director Gavin O’Connor’s previous experience helming Warrior – it’s that they are unnecessary. Having “Christian” be underestimated and prevail through his mathematical skills and/or attention to detail would have made for a far more interesting film.

As an action film, The Accountant is serviceable, but it had the potential to be quite a bit more.

7/10