Druzi
Ben Affleck brings bad guy beatdowns and badass accounting back to the big screen in The Accountant 2.
Set 8 years after the first film, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) reluctantly works alongside Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) to uncover the fate of a missing family. After teaming up with Christian’s brother (Jon Bernthal), the team struggles to walk the line between “by the book” law enforcement and “off the book” interrogation to get the job done.
In my eyes, the Accountant 2 had small shoes to fill. While the first film featured fantastic fight choreography and a great mystery / twist, its portrayal of autism was certainly criticisable and the plot was very hard to follow.
The Accountant 2 has its own peaks and pitfalls. More often than not, the mystery progresses thanks to technology, as opposed to good old fashioned clue solving. But the film has more heart to it than its predecessor, which brings new light to the characters we met almost 10 years ago.
Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal have perfected the brotherly dynamic. It was extremely refreshing to see killers bicker over sunscreen, while tackling real issues brought about by family dynamics. Ben Affleck shines as the brother struggling to communicate his emotions, while Jon Bernthal nails the short tempered, under-appreciated sibling, just trying to do right by his family.
However, it is important to note, Christian Wolff was quite a different character in the first film. In The Accountant, Christian was cold, analytical and blunt whereas this time around, Ben Affleck gives the character a much more childlike quality. This change allows for more humourous dialogue and heartfelt moments, but the shift is very noticeable.
Where The Accountant 2 really shines, is when the characters are at each other’s throats. Gun in hand or knife in hand, every fight scene is well choreographed with high stakes. The film really did have the potential to be a tight-knit, one and a half hour action packed movie but more often than not, it wanders off the path, losing the audience in the process.
While The Accountant 2 lacked the one, two punch I was hoping for, the film was an alright sequel to an alright movie. Would I recommend it? Well… if you’re willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to the mystery, if you love watching bad guys get well deserved beat downs, and if you’ve got a hankering for another happy ending, you can count on The Accountant 2 to pull through.
Year: 2025
Rating: M
Running Time: 132 MIN
Genre: Action
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, J. K. Simmons
Production Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures