The Accountant Movie Review

There have been a spate of movies which feature loners with skills, and this isn't really a recent phenomenon, but the 'man with skills' tag was brought back to prominence by Liam Neeson in his first "Taken" instalment, and I think producers were taken aback by it's popularity, leading to more of such movies, with fine examples that worked like Jack Reacher, Equaliser and more. The distinctive characteristic of the protagonist in these movies is a man who has some serious training in handling himself under extreme circumstances, but who is governed by some inner moral compass, which forces him to take up arms to defend himself and his beliefs, whilst handling anyone or anything that gets in his way, with extreme prejudice.

So that's what the basic premise of this show is about really, but with an extra twist, Ben Affleck plays this skilled loner well since he isn't really known for his dialogue, and add an extra dimension in the form of autism. A special type, Asperger's Syndrome, which are high functioning ones that posses special abilities, but aren't too social. Perhaps they had better stuntmen, he moves much better and looks far more deadly here, than the clumsy and far too bulky Batman he played in Batman versus Superman..

So The Accountant goes about cooking the books of less than savoury sorts, yet he has his internal moral compass, and takes umbrage with being targetted after solving a seemingly straightforward case of accounting fraud. He also decides to break his own rule of taking flight to defend the innocent accountant girl Anna Kendrick who was the person who found the irregularity. 

So you have your typical thrills, spills, explosions and a particularly loud Barrett M82 sniper rifle. The dialogue is clear but the rifle shots are all juiced up, and will certainly please action fans and bass heads. There are some plot holes, and you don't really get to know why the two brothers split, and why Ben did not recognise his own brother, but it's a good action thriller. Ben certainly does better here than in Batman, and maybe it's simply due to the absence of Zack Snyder.. 

However from a medical standard, parents will be concerned with the methods shown in helping autism, and do note that Asperger's is a special high functioning subgroup of autism, which does not represent the majority of autism patients. Some parents might even think the methods depicted in the show are real science. 

The ending is also done in a way that leave the movie open for more sequels, and I think this movie does well enough that I will want to see it on Blu Ray and will recommend it to those who like the "loner with skills" genre of movies.

3.5/5