The Accountant
Directed by Gavin O’Connor
Starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, and John Lithgow.
Reviewed by Michael Dalton
[rating: 3/5]
All the pieces fit perfectly in Gavin O’Connor’s new thriller The Accountant. His last big success, the emotionally wrought Warrior, where he nailed every emotional crescendo of the troubled relationships between two brothers and their father, was one of the finest films of 2011. The Accountant might not be as challenging but its fun, a lot of fun. This is pure thriller stuff and it draws you in with its star power. Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons, John Lithgow, Jon Bernthal, and the adorable Anna Kendrick are all front and centre in a story that utilises the fractured narrative approach (up to a point) and while its unfolding it holds you close. It’s a shame that O’Connor and his screenwriter Bill Dubuque had to make it so neat. There are narrative tendrils, plenty of them, and by the end all those pieces are right where they should be. A little more mystery would’ve made it a wowser.
Affleck is Christian Wolff (great name) who, as a child (a moving performance by Seth Lee), was diagnosed with a specialised form of autism. Born a genius (he can solve a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle with the image facing down), he also had the misfortune of having a military officer for a father who had no regard for the special care facilities his son needed. Instead he trained him from a young age to use his fists with unerring aim. As an adult, Christian makes his living as an accountant who tracks financial malfeasance for criminal organisations all recommended by a woman known only as “The Voice”. Now, as Christian takes on a legal job auditing a company called Living Robotics, he discovers he is being tracked by the Treasury Department for capture.
It’s exciting to see Affleck in a role like this. His huge frame strikes a perfect balance with his softly spoken, math genius. His timing is spot on (I’ve never seen him this acute), he’s swift and subtle, and moves like a panther. But as fine as is here, Kendrick, as Dana Cummings, the accountant for Living Robotics, is more fun. As the tiny little parrot dragged along for the dangerous ride, she’s so vulnerable (Affleck appears to be three times her size) and measures her words so perfectly she brings light comedy to the action and gives the movie a lift. She’s the character you remember when the lights come up. She is an ace at subtle line delivery (a talent she perfected in Up in The Air), speaking softly as she quizzes this mammoth, lifesaving assassin. She’s an even tinier Amy Adams and, like Adams, she knows how to use her eyes. They say more than she does.
Its an atmospheric piece of work. The skies are grey, the mayhem is deadly, and the surfaces have a dark sheen; you can imagine Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners taking place one county away. The pacing is fine and O’Connor, making the most of the heaped-up narrative, pushes the twisting tale along. It’s a disappointment then that after piling on the twists, it descends into something so conventional. It opens with a shoot-out. We see only an unidentifiable man with a gun climb the stairs of a building to the source of the gunfire and as he inches closer, the barrel of a revolver, trained by another unknown, comes into view, aimed directly at his head. O’Connor cuts the scene and takes us back to how it all began. That old trick you say? Uh huh.
