logo
‘The Accountant 2' Is One of the Year's Best-Reviewed Sequels. Does It Live up to the Hype?

‘The Accountant 2' Is One of the Year's Best-Reviewed Sequels. Does It Live up to the Hype?

Yahooa day ago

The Accountant 2, a long-in-gestation sequel to 2016's The Accountant, is one of the best-reviewed sequels of the year. But does it live up to the hype?The film sees Ben Affleck, playing deadly accountant Christian Wolf, reteam with original director Gavin O'Connor (Miracle, Warrior) for a continuation of Wolf's arc. Critics have been surprisingly enthusiastic about The Accountant 2. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 76 percent critical consensus against the original's middling 53 percent. Audiences have equally embraced the film, with its international box office grosses exceeding $100 million (nearly $70 million of which came from North America). With The Accountant 2 now streaming, is the Amazon/MGM sequel really as good as everyone is saying?The Accountant concluded with Affleck's formerly meek CPA (who did time in prison for an accidental murder and then became an assassin whilst cooking the books for crime families, don't ask) gunning down a bunch of hitmen, sparing his contract killer brother (Jon Berenthal), and installing Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) as the Director of the Treasury Department in the seat vacated by Raymond King (J.K. Simmons). Phew!
The Accountant 2 picks up several years after the events of the original. O'Connor opens with a terrific hook, an impeccably choreographed, nearly dialogue-free sequence in which King is tracked down and assassinated in the middle of a Los Angeles nightclub whilst trying to recruit assassin Anaïs (Daniella Pineda) to recover a kidnapped child. Medina is brought to identify his body and finds an ominous message—'Find the Accountant'—scrawled on King's arm. That leads her to Wolf, who agrees to help Medina find the missing boy on the condition that they bring his brother, Braxton, into the mix.If you can't already tell, the contrivances pile up fast and furious in The Accountant 2. The movie is tonally all over the place, veering from mass child murders to dating-game comedy skits to Face/Off style revelations, sometimes within the same scene. There's also a most unexpected journey into X-Men territory come the third act, and a chase scene in which Affleck, on a motorcycle, seems to morph back into Batman. But because the movie wears its outlandishness with such confidence, all of it works better than it should. The Accountant 2 is nothing if not unwieldy (frankly, it's bizarre), but it knows what it is and embraces itself. There's even a bit of genuine emotion in how the day is saved, however predictably, come the end.
The Accountant, which was a fine programmer in its own right, called back to low-key action movies of the early aughts, which boiled down to men solving problems with their guns, both rifles and muscles. The Accountant 2 offers the same solution for life's woes, but this time filtered through an action/buddy-cop formula that recalls straight-to-video shoot 'em ups of the late '80s and early '90s. It's an interesting about-face for the franchise, one which inherently allows everyone to loosen up and have a bit more fun.You can tell the filmmakers are particularly enthralled with Bernthal—he essentially gets three introductory scenes, all of which pay off with a fairly clever punchline. He and Affleck are quite good together, finding an odd-couple rhythm which the first movie lacked. Addai-Robinson, as the buttoned-up fed, essentially steals the movie with a sharp straight-man performance. The unexpected third wheel in this sibling reunion, she brings a warmth and wit that's typically missing from this sort of character and grounds the movie even when it threatens to spin out of control.O'Connor proves himself a much more adept director of action and schlock than he managed on the first installment, which often toppled into self-seriousness. Here, he deftly toggles between neo-noir tropes and building a proper mystery while still indulging in a level of off-the-wall chaos that will please genre fans. The final action sequence, an extended homage to Dirty Harry, is well-staged and rooted in logical stakes. It's a refreshing antidote to the world-saving bravado of most modern blockbusters, a callback to a nearly forgotten era of action filmmaking. Believe the hype: The Accountant 2 is one of this year's best, and weirdest, sequels.'The Accountant 2' Is One of the Year's Best-Reviewed Sequels. Does It Live up to the Hype? first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 5, 2025

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

STAR TREK: The Trans Trill, Explained
STAR TREK: The Trans Trill, Explained

Geek Girl Authority

time31 minutes ago

  • Geek Girl Authority

STAR TREK: The Trans Trill, Explained

For decades, many Trekkies have considered the Trill alien species on Star Trek to be a trans allegory. How long has this interpretation been popular? And how has the Franchise leaned into this trans representation? For this week's second Pride Month Trek Tuesday, we're examining the read that connects the trill with trans representation. Star Trek: The Next Generation The Trill were originally introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In The Next Generation Season 4's 'The Host,' a Trill ambassador visits the U.S.S. Enterprise-D in order to take part in some sensitive negotiations on Peliar Zel II. This Trill symbiont, 'Odan,' was originally joined to a male host (Franc Luz). The Trill species is comprised of two kinds of life forms. There is the symbiont, a worm-like entity. These long-lived symbionts can inhabit a humanoid 'host' body. Once this has transpired, the 'joined Trill' will possess a new personality. This is the synthesis of the personalities of the symbiont and the host. RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: Beverly Crusher In 'The Host,' Odan's male host and Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) became romantically entangled. However, Odan's earlier host was subsequently killed. In order to preserve the life of the symbiont, Dr. Crusher performed a procedure that transferred Odan from the original host into the body of William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes). This complicated the romantic relationship between Odan and Crusher. This was because she considered Riker to be akin to a brother to her. At the conclusion of the episode, the Odan symbiont is transferred to a new host: a woman, Kareel (Nicole Orth-Pallavicini). There is a taboo among the Trill regarding continuing a romantic relationship across different hosts. Nevertheless, Odan was willing to disregard this and continue the romance with Crusher. However, Crusher felt that the repeated changes in hosts were too much, and declined to continue the relationship. This parallels the way that a relationship will sometimes conclude when one partner transitions. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine After being introduced in The Next Generation's 'The Host,' the Trill played a major part in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This was thanks to the fact that one of the command crew members was a Trill: Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell). Sporting a new design (for both the host and the Trill), Jadzia introduced viewers to many facets of the Trill that were not explored in 'The Host.' Among other details, this included the fact that unjoined Trill symbionts swim in cave pools on the planet Trill. However, one aspect of the Trill that was introduced in The Next Generation was obviously and immediately continued in Deep Space Nine. This was the idea of a Trill symbiont moving from a male host to a female host. This was because Jadzia was a new host for the Dax symbiont. However, the previous host for the Dax symbiont was the late Curzon, a male who was the friend of Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). RELATED: Star Trek: Tracing the Holodeck's History In an early Season 1 episode of Deep Space Nine, 'A Man Alone,' Sisko and Jadzia discuss Dax's 'transition.' In that scene, Jadzia notes that sometimes Trill friendships with other species 'don't survive the change.' Sisko says that it will be different for them, but that things are 'uncomfortable' at the moment. Jadzia suggests to Sisko that he learn to 'comfortable with his discomfort.' She continues that 'Time will do the rest.' Ultimately, Sisko's friendship with Jadzia does survive 'the change.' However, Sisko does continue to use the nickname 'Old Man' when speaking to Jadzia. While misgendering a trans person is not recommended, it's clear that this nickname is a sign of Sisko's affection for Jadzia. A Trans Allegory? There are many other scenes featuring Jadzia that are held in high regard by those Trekkies who perceive the character as a trans allegory. To cite just one more out of many examples, we can turn to the Deep Space Nine Season 2 episode 'Blood Oath.' In that episode, Jadzia reunites with a friend, Kor the Klingon (John Colicos), whom she knew decades earlier as Curzon. Initially, Kor refers to Jadzia as 'Curzon, [his] beloved old friend.' However, she corrects him by stating, 'I'm Jadzia now.' Kor immediately amends his statement: 'Jadzia, [his] beloved old friend.' For the rest of the episode, Kor refers to her as 'Jadzia' and uses her correct pronouns. These days, the scene has become something of a popular meme. It is frequently posted as evidence that even Klingons can adapt to a trans person's changing names and pronouns. RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: T'Pol Furthermore, interpreting Jadzia as trans is not something that is a recent development. For proof, check out the Summer 1997 issue of Transgender Tapestry magazine. Jadzia is the featured model for the cover of Transgender Tapestry #76. The cover states: 'Star Trek, Transgender & the Final Frontier: Gene Roddenberry's Bold Journey Where No Trans Had Gone Before.' While the issue was released 28 years ago, the discussion around Jadzia remains unchanged. Sadly, and in one of the most controversial plot beats of the series, Jadzia is killed in the penultimate season of Deep Space Nine. The Dax symbiont is subsequently transferred to a new host, Ezri (Nicole de Boer). However, it is easy to speculate how any aspect of this transition might have been handled differently, especially if the series were released today. Trans Like Me Photo Cr: Paramount+ © 2021 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved. When it comes to the Trill on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, we have a trans allegory. While certain elements of the Trill stories align with the contemporary trans experience, other elements do not. However, the Franchise eventually bridged this gap thanks to Star Trek: Discovery. In the Discovery Season 3 episode 'Forget Me Not,' we're introduced to Gray Tal (Ian Alexander). Like the other joined Trill in this article, Gray has both a host and a symbiont. However, his story is somewhat complicated. When we first meet Gray, his host body is dead. The Tal symbiont has been transferred to a human, Gray's partner, human Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio). Because Adira is human, they do not join with the symbiont in the same way a Trill host would. However, Adira does continue to see visions of Gray. RELATED: 5 Star Trek Meme Source Episodes Eventually, the problem is solved by removing the Tal symbiont from Adira and transferring it to a synthetic 'golem' using the Soong method. This can easily be seen as an allegory for contemporary gender affirming procedures. However, unlike previous Trill, Gray is also textually trans. This is thanks to the fact that the humanoid Trill host is a trans man. Before joining with the Tal symbiont (and before his death), Gray had already transitioned. While trans allegory is good, making Gray textually trans (while maintaining allegorical elements) allows us to have our replicated cake and eat it too. We Get to the Future Together Hopefully, the Star Trek Franchise will continue to offer textual trans representation moving forward. As Great Bird of the Galaxy Gene Roddenberry said: 'Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.' RELATED: Star Trek Episode Trilogy: Revisiting 'Unification' Roddenberry continued, 'If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.' These episodes of Star Trek are currently available for streaming on Paramount+. The Premise and How STAR TREK Fans Created Fanfic as We Know It Avery Kaplan is the author of several books and the Features Editor at Comics Beat. She was honored to serve as a judge for the 2021 Cartoonist Studio Prize Award and the 2021 Prism Awards. She lives in the mountains of Southern California with her partner and a pile of cats, and her favorite place to visit is the cemetery. You can also find her writing on Comics Bookcase, NeoText, Shelfdust, the Mary Sue, in many issues of PanelxPanel, and in the margins of the books in her personal library.

One killed, six hurt in three daylight shootings, D.C. police say
One killed, six hurt in three daylight shootings, D.C. police say

Washington Post

time34 minutes ago

  • Washington Post

One killed, six hurt in three daylight shootings, D.C. police say

A man was killed and six other people wounded Monday in three daylight shootings in the District, police said. The slaying was the city's third in two days. Monday's killing came during an outbreak of gunfire around noon outside a store on busy Mount Olivet Road NE, Executive Assistant Police Chief Andre Wright said. He gave no information about any specific motive in that or the other two shootings, which all occurred within a two-hour span. But, based on Wright's account, the incident on Mount Olivet resembled a targeted shooting. Three men were standing outside the store in the 1200 block of Mount Olivet, Wright said, when a black sedan pulled up and three men got out. All were dressed in black, he said. They fired at the men in front of the store, he said. Then they got back into the sedan and left. In addition to the man who was killed, the two other men who had been outside the store were both hit. They were taken to hospitals. A woman who later sought hospital treatment was thought by police to have been a fourth person hit in the same incident. Community concern about the attack was understandable, Wright said. But he pledged 'to get to the bottom of this.' Homicides in the District have evoked concerns not only in the city's neighborhoods, but also among federal officials. The level of homicides in D.C. this year is about the same as last year at this time. However, the level of all violent crime this year is substantially less than last year's, according to police statistics. Before Monday's quadruple shooting on Mount Olivet, Wright said, one man was shot around 10 a.m. in the 1700 block of Benning Road NE, and two men were shot about an hour and a half after that, about two blocks away, in the 1500 block of Benning. It was not immediately known whether any of the shootings was connected. But Tom Lynch, a police spokesman, said Monday night that investigators suspected two of them may be linked: the Mount Olivet Road shooting and the second of the Benning Road shootings. All of the three sites are within a mile of each other. At a news briefing on the three incidents, Wright indicated that police viewed personal disputes as underlying many shootings in the District. 'You still have people in the community who fail to understand how to resolve conflicts,' he said, and 'in the heat of argument, 'they introduce a firearm.' On Sunday, in the first of the day's two homicides, Jonathan Fuentes-Ferrufino, 27, of Northwest was found fatally stabbed about 12:30 a.m. in the 4100 block of 7th Street NW, police said, and an arrest was made. In the second, Brandon Tolson, 21, of Northeast was fatally shot just before 3 a.m. in the 1400 block of S Street NW, police said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store