With the perfect check and balance between a fascinating character study and a slam-bang action flick of the first order, THE ACCOUNTANT delivers.
Ben Affleck stars as Christian Wolff (at least that's his name this year) a savant mathematician who specializes in dropping into the globe's biggest crime operations to help them track down money leaks or to balance their books.
Christian shows as much skill getting in and out of these dangerous scenarios as he does with numbers.
As he begins to pop up in too many of those "from a distance, over the shoulder" FBI shots of bad guy gatherings, the Treasury Department begins to take an interest.
Soon to retire agent Ray King (a terrific J.K. Simmons) wants to find out who "The Accountant" is and enlists upcoming young agent Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to take point on that hunt.
Meanwhile, Christian begins an investigation into the finances at a huge Robotics company, owned by Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow) and his sister Rita (Jean Smart).
It appears someone inside the corporation is stealing money and the suspects pile up. The leaks were first found by company accountant Dana (Anna Kendrick) who is also a numbers whiz and nearly as socially awkward as Christian.
I bet you know where this story is going, right?
You don't.
Director Gavin O'Connor (Warrior) and writer Bill Dubuque (The Judge) take the road less traveled.
The film is filled with flashbacks to Christian and his brother as young boys. Christian spends most of his hours rocking back and forth and screaming in a panic if anything is out of order. His mother's lost and his Father is a strict Military officer with a fierce hate of medical options and a passion for fixing Christian himself.
The flashbacks inform the present in subtle ways, slowly unwrapping the details in intriguing style.
By the conclusion, when a hired hit-man (John Bernthal) and his troops are descending on Christian, all the pieces have fallen into place and its much more than just a shoot out.
Affleck is excellent, repressing any traditional emotion for much of the film in a finely tuned performance. He's equally adept at brandishing the most amazing collection of massive firepower I've seen in any movie in a long time.
Anyone that's got a ceiling mounted, modern Gatling gun in their garage has my complete attention.
Filled with great performances and excellent action scenes, THE ACCOUNTANT gets a cool, calculated A
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