Review of The Accountant (2016) by Axgrinder — 15 Oct 2016

Better than expected. I read the pro reviews before attending, plus I’m not a huge Ben Affleck fan, so I had low expectations going in but, I found “the accountant” to be pretty entertaining. Not sure why the critics are ripping it so unmercifully, because its way better than the majority of the mid-summer crap than Hollywood churned out (again) this year. Part of the enjoyment has to do with the sound effects, and the deep and rhythmically powerful report of Affleck’s weapon of choice, which I found to be totally awesome.

The movie is a little bit John Wick, given the frequency of kill shots to the head, but mostly I found the story line to be reminiscent of a Batman or Marvel Comic book movie plot, without the super-hero costumes or super-hero powers, (though towards the end Affleck’s character does absorb enough explosions and punches to strain the credulity of even novice moviegoers). The knock on Ben Affleck is that his acting has a bit of an emotionally restricted range to begin with, and thus playing a character with a high-functioning form of Autism is right up his alley, but it works for him in this movie, so who cares. Anna Kendrick shines, and makes the most out of a somewhat limited role. Hopefully, we will start to see more movies with her in a lead role.