There is so much to love in THE ACCOUNTANT 2, or, rather, THE ACCOUNTANT2, recognizing the mathematical nature of the eponymous character’s profession. There’s a clever plot involving human traffickers, a Federal Agent walking a fine line between the letter of the law and a consequentialist philosophy of effective law enforcement, and a brother act that demands a sequel. Demands. Plus, a smackdown of conspicuous consumption brilliant in both its brevity and its wit.
We return after nine years to the world of Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), an accounting genius who has made a considerable fortune laundering money and performing other fiduciary tricks for people who prefer to stay off the radar of law enforcement. Chris has money, but one of the quirks of the neurodivergence that makes him such a crack accountant is his preference for the cozy and the utilitarian, hence living in an Airstream with only one place setting for meals but decked out in museum-quality artwork valued in the high seven figures. He’s about to engage in a brisk round of speed dating in his hometown of Boise ID, with sartorial advice from Justine, his remote assistant and her plummy British tones, and it will go about as well as can be expected for someone without social skills, or the ability to read emotions in others with any degree of instinct. Why someone who has gone to such trouble to be alone wants to explore dating is not addressed, but it doesn’t matter. This point of the film is to explore the strengths and weaknesses of Chris’ quirks, especially in contrast with the completely different kinds of quirks we discover in his younger brother, Braxton (Jon Bernthal, sporting a haircut that can only be described as sublimely bad-ass). The brothers have not seen each other in eight years, but when Maybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), the assistant director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reaches out to Chris after the murder of her former boss, Ray King (J.K. Simmons), that will change.
Chris takes the case and calls Braxton when it becomes clear that a high-priced killer-for-hire is involved. And why is Braxton the perfect person to call for help of that nature? Because that’s how he makes his living, traveling to exotic locales, staying in five-star hotels, and living essentially the same isolated existence with questionable moral boundaries, but with room service. Together they will spar their way through a winding plot that will includes a fishmonger with a deadly sideline, a hit-woman (Daniella Pineda) with a lethal air of insouciant ennui, and a missing immigrant couple and their young son that has fallen into the hands of human traffickers. Yes, it’s an engrossing story with some lovely twists and a brisk pace, but the real story is how the brothers will find a way to work together while working out a lifetime of issues. Yet, this is not just an odd couple, though odd and a couple they certainly are, it’s an odd trio, with Maybeth bemused by them both while trying to negotiate the fine line between finding the family, breaking up the traffickers, and staying on the right side of the law as much as possible.
One of the special pleasures of the script is that while the set pieces of neurodivergence vs the normies are obvious, like Chris striking out in a spectacular fashion with the speed-date ladies, the script takes that joke and builds on it in unexpected ways that highlight just how out of touch Chris is with the social norms, and how very confusing he finds it. Affleck has never been better, playing Chris as a guy who has yet to become comfortable in his body, and is constantly gobsmacked by how those societal norms work against his own otherwise impeccable brand of logic. He’s revealed as not so much amoral as operating in a completely different paradigm that allows for blunt force trauma and wholesale slaughter. When he beats out a tattoo of boredom while suffering through Marybeth’s summary of the case that King was working on, complete with visual aids, he’s abrupt but not cruel when she asks him what the problem is and he explains that she’s not helping and then zeroes in one exactly why that is. He makes being a normie, as the neurodivergent call the rest of us, something deserving patience and compassion, and though never does Affleck change his affect during the intellectual takedown, he gets it across that he’s trying to be kind. As for brother Braxton, he’s got his own issues with other people and their social cues, which is why he spends a great deal of time rehearsing a phone call of a particularly emotional nature while stalking his hotel room in form-fitting undies like a prizefighter psyching himself up for a fight. And his insistence that he only kills bad people who really, really deserve it.
The confusion from one and the exasperation of the other recalls Laurel and Hardy for the precision and layers in play even if the humor can be broad. It can also be touching in its own way despite the violence, because awkward as they can each be, when it comes to extracting information or warding off the bad guys, they are poetry in motion, giving us a heartwarming bromance to go along with killer action sequences and a considerable body count. Yes, Affleck looks cool snapping a replacement banana clip in place, and Bernthal bobs and weaves through gunfire with consummate grace, but the real story can be summed up in the simple way Chris responds when Marybeth asks him why he took the case and he replies that it’s because she asked him. There is a childlike innocence to both brothers. If Braxton has to coach Chris on the subtleties of flirting there is, along with that ci-mentioned exasperation, the jubilance he exhibits when Chris puts himself out there that is infectiously joyous. It helps that the villains are irremediably evil.
THE ACCOUNTANT2 is too much fun as it gallops through the sordid underbelly of human cruelty. Sharply, ahem, executed and played on the pivot point of pathos and farce, it’s a popcorn movie that runs rampant through our emotions the way Chris and Braxton do through the bad guys.
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