Review of The Accountant (2016) by Reginthorn — 24 Oct 2016

The Accountant is an interesting movie for good and bad reasons. The film begins with a generic thriller/action film sequence and then dramatically switches to a day in the life of an autistic man. For those unaware, the Accountant is about a man who is hired to look over the books of shady organizations.

Oh, and our accountant protagonist happens to have military grade training. The messages (there are a lot of vague ones) in the film are easily missed with very little context. The film takes on the air of hoping viewers are able to fill in the weakly linked blanks.

As far as my understanding goes, the portrayal of autism is a mixed bag. Ben Affleck may be wrestling with his inner demons brought out by sensory overload one moment, yet have an almost comedically awkward social interaction in the next.

The latter parts are scenes where I was unsure if they were intended to be humorous. I certainly laughed a lot. However, on a bright note, the film feels very uncomfortable with labels. I really appreciated how the film simply stated the character is different and not a helpless victim of circumstance.

Flashbacks involve the grimmer scenes of the movie. Affleck’s character is most influenced by his father and yet the relationship is never clearly explored. In short, the movie struggles in honing down a tone.

I don’t even want to get into the ill-conceived brother reconciliation subplot. Plus, on a side note, the overall narrative is oddly structured like a superhero origin movie. The cast features an array of talent from John Lithgow to Ana Kendrick.

All of the acting is top notch and by far the strongest element. Having said that, the director’s strengths clearly lie in the action sequences. The precise nature of the protagonist adds a surprising satisfactory element to the gunplay found throughout the film.

If the actors weren’t talented, the film would easily be unwatchable after the first hour. In today's movie climate, the parts that work easily outshine the many bad components found in the film.