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

Meh. The premise of this flick seems drawn from a bargain bin comic book (excuse me, I meant so say graphic novel). Some heroes get their powers from a radioactive spider bite, while others get theirs from Asperger's syndrome and martial arts training from a domineering jar head father.

In truth though, the over-complicated "Wolffe" character (Ben Affleck) is more similar to a tongue-in-cheek hero like the "The Tick" than it is Spiderman. Affleck's deadpan performance is the core of the movie.

He uses a monotone voice and generally flat affect to create some very dark humor (bang!) and, conveniently, to accidentally charm the cute young character played by Anna Kendrick (also good in her limited role).

Setting aside the implausibility of the main character, the trouble with the movie is it is 90% back-story and 10% plot. And that cursory plot (financial intrigue at Lithgow's robot company) is as exciting as a bag of sand.

All told, the flick establishes a quirky character and set of colleagues plainly designed to populate a series of sequels. I walked away feeling like I had paid to see Part One of a two part story. And Part 2 threatens to include even more tedious exposition to explain why the character is not only so proficient but also so deplorable.

Presumably the plot in Part Two will involve another financial puzzle and include another gee-whiz scene wherein Wolffe solves the mystery with his accounting genius. And probably even more hard sell on the ins and outs of Asperger's syndrome.

I can wait.