Director:Â Gavin O’Connor
Cast:Â Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Tambor, John Lithgow, Cynthia Addai-Robinson
Rating:Â 15
Running Time:Â 128 mins
Release Date:Â November 4th, 2016
In THE ACCOUNTANT, a bulked up, Batman-sized Ben Affleck plays Christian Wolff, a maths genius who has more in common with numbers than people. He also happens to cook the books for some of the biggest criminal organisations in the world, which causes the Treasury Department to take a special interest in him. Wolff takes on a new client, a robotics company where an employee, played by Anna Kendrick, has started to notice some discrepancies in their numbers. Affleck, as the impenetrable Wolff, is reliably great, making Wolff not just another Bourne clone. His OCD nature and other diagnosis creates a complex character who’s interesting and mysterious. However the film squanders this by utilizing flashbacks that, intended to flesh out Wolff’s story, do more harm than good; over explaining is the name of the game here and just as THE ACCOUNTANT has you hooked with its peculiar protagonist, the film decides to hit you over the head with exposition. Far more nuanced in its first half, the film plays it better as a straightlaced thriller, before dissolving into a narrative mess.
The introduction of Anna Kendrick to the mix creates an odd romantic side plot that never fits with the rest of the film. The same can be said for J.K. Simmons and Cynthia Addai-Robinson as the treasury agents trying to take down Wolff; their side plot feels at odds with the rest of the film and distracts from Affleck’s performance.
By the time Affleck gets caught up in a big conspiracy involving the robotics company the film struggles to keep track of every plot point it’s juggling, Kendrick’s character disappears halfway through the film and the treasury agents pop up so abruptly you feel like you’re watching five different films.
It’s fortunate then that Gavin O’Connor knows how to stage a fight scene and he impressively injects some gritty scenes into a film that always threatens to get bogged down in its overly complicated and chaotic story. Amping up the sound and making every hit count, there’s a real world authenticity to the film’s action; punches hit hard and look like they hurt, guns are loud and disorienting and people fight before they go down. If anything, watching Affleck ‘Jason Bourne’ himself through the film is a highlight. But good action scenes, even great action scenes, can’t stop THE ACCOUNTANT’s narrative train from going off the tracks. Despite a strong beginning the film eventually gives way to some ludicrous plot developments that get increasingly sillier as the film goes on. It’s unfortunate then, that the film wastes its interesting protagonist on a lackluster story.
Verdict
