For Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), the titular math savant turned number cruncher in The Accountant, logic and routine reign supreme. To see him at work is to see a man determined to ensure that everything around him conforms to expectations and plays out as anticipated, with his lifelong struggle on the autism spectrum dictating his actions and needs. He’s deliberate, precise, methodical — both in his law-abiding side of his profession, and in its other application working for mobsters (as well as the handy martial arts training that helps when his job takes a turn for the dangerous). And, he’s reluctant to change or deviate from his carefully constructed normality. Something as simple as having a spontaneous conversation with Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates), an employee at the robotics manufacturer he’s consulting to, is visibly unsettling to him.
For director Gavin O’Connor (Jane Got A Gun), bringing The Accountant to the screen is also reliant upon following a prescribed path. Here, a boxed-in protagonist begets an approach to match, for example, as well as one ill-equipped to adapt or demonstrate flexibility. The filmmaker and his feature don’t fare well when Bill Dubuque’s (The Judge) script veers into chaotic, yet still formulaic, territory several times over. Indeed, it isn’t Wolff that flails most when unforeseen events pop up and disrupt his sense of order, and therefore his corresponding sense of self — it’s the movie.
Plenty of new developments come the way of both the protagonist and the film he’s in to make the resulting messiness and clumsiness plain. Wolff’s encounter with Dana is inspired by the latter noticing that company figures don’t quite add up — and while the former is ostensibly brought in to help by corporation head Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow, Interstellar), he’s soon being hunted down by trained killers led by the brash Brax (Jon Bernthal, TV’s Daredevil). Though he’s prepared to flee, discard his identity and start over, concern for Dana’s well-being breaks through his disorder-caused lack of empathy. Add a treasury agent (J.K. Simmons, La La Land) tracking Wolff down to give his life meaning, and little remains neat or organised.
Instead, the film’s narrative swiftly proves convoluted, and firmly anchored in the realm of convenience and contrivance. Given the skills and tools at his disposal beyond his head for figures and love for pocket protectors, Wolff may as well be the last type of character Affleck was seen on-screen playing: a superhero. Accordingly, The Accountant eschews any semblance of exploring an antisocial man in a heightened situation in favour of a stock-standard, twist-oriented action-thriller about an unsympathetic outsider with a penchant for violence who is forced to recognise his ties to the world around him. And, in the process, it ill-fittingly shoehorns some buddy comedy and police chase drama into the mix.
It’s little wonder that O’Connor reacts badly, or that the film suffers as a consequence. That said, some sections or approaches work in isolation; a movie about Wolff and Dana that focused on their interaction, rather than the surrounding blandly shot carnage, screams to be let out. So does a better showcase for Affleck’s purposeful performance, which initially sells the requisite meticulousness that the movie then happily squanders, albeit with a largely blank stare. That unintended laughter often follows his every move, however, typifies the jumble that The Accountant becomes.
Rating: 2 ½ stars out of 5
The Accountant
Director: Gavin O’Connor
USA, 2016, 128 mins
Release date: 3 November
Distributor: Roadshow
Rated: MA
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