In ‘The Accountant 2′, Ben Affleck crunches more than numbers
What makes Christian great at both jobs? He possesses the power to do thousands of calculations in his head, and to see patterns where mere mortals cannot. This is due to him being blessed with Hollywood's version of autism, which automatically makes you an amazing savant who talks like an emotionless robot.
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Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) in THE ACCOUNTANT 2. (Amazon MGM Studios)
Amazon MGM Studios
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I'm tired of this stereotypical depiction of autism. It's as if Hollywood has to assign superpowers to people on the spectrum in order for them to be accepted by mainstream audiences. While it's often amusing to watch a blank-faced Affleck dislocate shoulders after explaining how much it's going to hurt, other scenes are not so funny.
Take an early sequence where he rigs a speed dating service app so all the women are assigned to his table at the meetup. 'The Accountant 2″ goes through an entire montage of Christian alienating the women, intercut with a scene of him walking the stunned event planners through how he gamed the system.
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On a more positive note, Christian's nonverbal handler, Justine (Allison Robertson takes over the role; Alison Wright returns as her computer generated voice) and her crew are all neurodivergent experts who assist him with surveillance, hacking and finding pertinent information in a preternaturally quick fashion. They're the usual team you'd find in movies like this and the 'Mission: Impossible' series.
Representation matters, but I question the downside of the monolithic representation Hollywood affords the autistic.
Anais (Daniella Pineda) and Ray King (J.K. Simmons) in THE ACCOUNTANT 2. (Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios)
Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios
But I digress. In this sequel, the siblings are thrown into another violent caper. This one involves the mysterious death that opens the film. Treasury director Ray King (J.K. Simmons, reprising his role) meets a mysterious blonde woman named Anais (Daniella Pineda) whose deadly evasion skills prove she's some kind of government operative and assassin. King ends up shot to death, but before a different set of goons gun him down, he writes 'find the accountant' on his arm.
King's death is part of a bigger conspiracy that involves the kidnapping of an El Salvadorean boy and the disappearance of his parents. His murder case is assigned to FBI agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). She follows King's advice and calls the accountant, but she's repulsed by the rule-breaking tactics of the Wolff brothers.
While I'm complaining about tired tropes in movies, please indulge me one more. Medina's character is the spoilsport woman cliché who always tells the hero that he shouldn't do the one thing you came to see him do. This nagging character is usually in biopics about 'great men,' and is so played out that you can find TikTok videos of female comedians mocking the character mercilessly. Addai-Robinson's talents deserve better.
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Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) and Brax (Jon Bernthal) in THE ACCOUNTANT 2. (Amazon MGM Studios)
Amazon MGM Studios
'The Accountant 2″ is at its best and most entertaining when dealing with the bickering brothers Wolff. It's been eight years since they've seen each other (the same distance between 'Accountant' films), and old gripes re-emerge.
Bernthal is excellent as the more emotional counterpoint to Affleck, and the two play that chemistry to great comic effect. Both are lonely man-children trying to show brotherly love in the only ways they can. Their arguments provide a welcome diversion while we await the film's violent, bullet-filled climax.
Meanwhile, a scene where Christian cuts loose in a line dance has the potential to be cringeworthy, but the two actors turn it into a sweet bonding moment.
While the film's way of dealing with mental issues is iffy, there's one intriguing plotline involving a woman whose head trauma made her an amoral and extremely affective killer. It would be a spoiler to reveal the true identity of this character, so I'll just say that she drives the action in unexpected ways, leading to a coda that I wish were better executed.
You don't need Christian Wolff's powers of deduction to predict the inevitable 'The Accountant 3.' That is, if the box office balances the books.
★★1/2
THE ACCOUNTANT 2
Directed by Gavin O'Connor. Written by Bill Dubuque. Starring Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J.K. Simmons, Daniella Pineda, Allison Robertson, Alison Wright. At AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, suburbs. 132 min. R (the bottom line shows violence and profanity)
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
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