Film Overview: ‘The Accountant 2,’ with Ben Affleck, is not fairly a write-off | Hollywood

But on the heels of tax season, right here is “The Accountant 2,” Gavin O’Connor’s sequel to the 2016 movie that didn’t, precisely, depart audiences clamoring for one more. However in a film world the place something profitable instantly will get a second one, “The Accountant 2” has the good thing about not having a lot to dwell as much as. Simply balancing the books slightly would depend as a win for “The Accountant 2.”

And by the low requirements of the unique, O’Connor’s movie, an untidy thriller a couple of fastidious CPA whose powers of deduction are enhanced by his autism, simply succeeds at punching up the numbers for “The Accountant” on this belated follow-up.

It’s a job that was all the time an odd match for Affleck. In a method, that’s the intention. Affleck’s Christian Wolff is a monotone bean counter who used to assist legal organizations launder cash and clear their books. Now, he’s a mixture of stickler and vigilante whose perception into tax filings and different paper trails helps him search out any clue. The most effective scene in “The Accountant 2” could be when he exposes a human trafficking scheme at a pizza firm by quickly calculating a doubtful hole of underreported pizza field bills.

Affleck, in fact, has all the time been a extra garrulous, charismatic display presence. The function of savant wasn’t for him; it was for his “Good Will Looking” co-star, Matt Damon. Right here, although, he’s an impassive android who speaks in clipped sentences and avoids eye contact. And whereas the “Rain Man” shtick of “The Accountant” all the time feels compelled, you possibly can inform Affleck is having fun with himself.

In “The Accountant 2,” that’s most true when he’s paired up with Jon Bernthal. He performs Wolff’s extra outgoing and freewheeling brother, Braxton, who has a knack for bloody mayhem however harbors damage emotions from his brother’s distance lately. The 2 make a advantageous motion duo of opposites. The issue? It takes a very long time in Invoice Dubuque’s unhurried and disordered script to get to them.

The film begins with a set piece of misdirection that provides to the muddled nature of the primary act. Retired FBI monetary crimes boss Raymond King is assembly somebody at a restaurant who may assist in his seek for a household of Central American refugees. It’s a success job, although, with snipers in place, and a separate, mysterious murderer lurking about. The scene ends with King’s physique taken out with a message he’s written on his forearm: “Discover the accountant.”

Marybeth Medina , King’s former protege and monetary crimes deputy, takes up the case. She is aware of sufficient about Wolff to know find out how to summon him — not with a Bat sign, precisely, however by phoning a neurological analysis middle in New England and leaving a message with a receptionist.

Wolff resides contentedly out of an Airstream RV, with an workplace again on the analysis middle filled with younger autistic pc hackers. The scenes listed below are clunky and don’t all the time transfer the story alongside — there’s an aimless however reasonably humorous considered one of Wolff velocity relationship. However as soon as Braxton reveals up — one other awkward and labored character introduction, by the use of a “Wizard of Oz” surrounded by lifeless our bodies — “The Accountant 2” clicks into idiosyncratic place.

What that place “The Accountant 2” occupies in all probability wouldn’t stand as much as scrutiny, not to mention an audit. For a film a couple of element obsessive, it is curiously messy. However — and this may matter extra — the movie has a fairly agency sense of simply how severe and the way knowingly foolish a film about an uber-talented accountant should be.

There may be additionally only a wisp of real-life relevancy. By centering an accountant thriller on the destiny of a migrant household, “The Accountant 2” may even be stated to be well timed. The Trump administration is within the midst of chopping IRS workers, a few of whom, together with appearing commissioner Melanie Krause, have resigned partially over a call to make use of IRS information to assist deport undocumented immigrants. For departing IRS employees, “The Accountant 2” may simply be essentially the most cathartic film of the 12 months.

“The Accountant 2,” an Amazon MGM Studios launch that opens in theaters Thursday, is rated R by the Movement Image Affiliation for robust violence, and language all through. Operating time: 125 minutes. Two and a half stars out of 4.

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