The Accountant opens in theaters on Friday, April 25. This evaluate is predicated on a screening on the 2025 SXSW Film and TV Festival.
You can inform from the way in which the title is stylized on display – as a mathematical exponent, like Alien³ – that The Accountant 2 has eliminated the self-seriousness from its predecessor’s in any other case pleasant method. Gavin O’Connor’s sequel is a blast, constructing on the story and relationships of 2016’s The Accountant to disclose a touching, hilarious portrait of fraught brotherhood inside a charged and politically related plot. All the whereas, it leans full-tilt right into a goofy setup that’s executed with utter confidence: Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), a.okay.a. The Accountant, is a savant number-cruncher for the mob and part-time vigilante gunman whose autism is gently approached and realistically carried out, however framed as if it had been a superpower.
There’s much less bean counting in The Accountant 2, however much more blood and bullets, beginning with a gap scene through which former Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (or FinCEN) director Raymond King (J.Okay. Simmons) is gunned down whereas working a case in secret. Once the Commissioner Gordon to The Accountant’s Batman – becoming, as Affleck and Simmons have since performed that dynamic within the DC Extended Universe – King has solely been following leads through which he’s emotionally invested. His demise leaves behind an intricate puzzle for Wolff to resolve, alongside King’s Treasury Department successor, the returning Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). The case that obtained King killed opens up an online of human trafficking between Central America and the southern U.S., exposing the methods through which undocumented immigrants who’ve little authorized recourse are brutally exploited. Where the primary movie was largely unsentimental about its central plot (which revolved round a robotics agency), The Accountant 2 conjures immense sympathy with its topical melodrama and the thriller of King’s demise.
But as somber as this story appears at first blush, it’s additionally peppered with wildly amusing moments of character. That begins with Wolff’s re-introduction, throughout which he video games a speed-dating algorithm by sprucing up his profile in all the suitable methods, solely to botch each face-to-face encounter. It’s the proper type of foolish, putting Wolff’s isolation entrance and middle whereas establishing his impending reunion along with his estranged brother, fellow contract killer Braxton (Jon Bernthal), whose assist he seeks to resolve King’s homicide. Also aiding Wolff is his returning, distant, technologically savvy assistant Justine (Allison Robertson, changing Allison Wright from the primary movie), a nonverbal resident of a mansion-like academy for younger autistic college students. She has her personal legion of hackers-in-training this time, à la Professor X – who she even quotes at one level. Like I stated: completely foolish, even when the portrayal of neurodivergence continuously threatens to tip (however by no means absolutely does) into offensiveness.
A mysterious, scarily succesful murderer identified solely as Anaïs (Daniella Pineda) appears to in some way be concerned in King’s case, however The Accountant 2’s lopsided construction ensures that she disappears for prolonged intervals. However, the layers it reveals to her seemingly single-minded character do retroactively justify these absences. After all, that is the type of film the place regardless of what number of conveniences trigger its jigsaw items to click on into place, the result’s no much less entertaining.
Just like The Accountant, whose heightened tone and reliance on tried-and-true storytelling units – huge coincidences, long-lost household connections – wouldn’t really feel misplaced in a Bollywood film,the sequel equally runs a crowd-pleasing gamut. The motion is succesful and clear. The plot, whereas difficult in construction, takes the characters to fascinating locations (each geographically and emotionally). The comedy is fine-tuned and, most significantly, totally character-and-performance based mostly.
Things simmer on a medium flame till Bernthal exhibits up and immediately units the display ablaze. An actor lengthy in comparison with Robert De Niro, he lastly will get his personal “You talkin’ to me?” second in The Accountant 2, which paves the trail for Braxton’s stunning vulnerability – he’s a misplaced, lonely soul who simply desires his older brother’s friendship. Affleck, regardless of a voice that appears extra influenced by The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy this time round, returns seamlessly to the position of Wolff. Having retreated nearly totally to the solitude of his tricked-out Airstream trailer, he appears to wish to join as nicely, however his misreadings of his brother’s physique language and intentions make this tough. Braxton is frank and playful, and Bernthal imbues the character’s physique language with an easy-going fluidity, which makes for an enchantingly humorous distinction with Wolff’s unwavering stiffness.
The clashes between the brothers are the film’s coronary heart and soul – this particularly involves gentle throughout their downtime from vigilantism (and from Medina’s disapproval of their strategies). One scene in an LA sq. dancing bar is a selected delight, between Braxton’s eagerness to throw arms, and Wolff’s splendidly roundabout strategies of flirtation, which includes him calculating his method onto the dance flooring. It’s a sequence that demonstrates O’Connor understanding that motion and character are intrinsically sure, and in motion cinema, you possibly can’t actually have one with out build up the opposite.
The Accountant 2 is a surprisingly sentimental sequel, which retains even essentially the most scattered parts of its plot firmly glued collectively. It’s crammed with the type of unapologetic cheese that Hollywood motion has lengthy since changed with irreverent, quippy snark, making certain that its humor and drama go hand-in-hand at each flip, leading to one of many yr’s most well-rounded studio photos.
