The Accountant 2

Prequel: “The Accountant” (2016)

It’s been eight years since Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), the ideal mix of Rain Man and Jason Bourne, went off the grid in his motorhome. In the present day he occupies most of his time by going on blind dates in calculated but unsuccessful attempts at finding a partner.

After FinCEN’s director Ray King is killed, treasury agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is forced to contact Christian Wolff to see if he is able to track down these killers. Christian teams up with his estranged brother, Braxton (Jon Bernthal), in an attempt to solve a tangled web of mysteries involving this murder. In the process, they must stay alive while being hunted by some of the most ruthless killers in the world.

I really enjoyed the first “Accountant” movie, and when I heard that a sequel was coming, I was interested to see how it would turn out, as well as how it would compare to the original. As I talk about the good and bad qualities below, many of them will be comparing and contrasting the sequel to the original movie. This will be a spoiler-free review for “The Accountant 2,” although it will be filled with spoilers from the first movie.

The Good

One aspect of “The Accountant 2” that I know is definitely better than the first movie is the cinematic aspect. The original movie was good in this regard, as well, although I do think the handheld cameras and short cuts were not always easy on the eyes. The sequel, on the other hand, graces the screen with breathtaking cinematography and gloriously sweeping wide shots of various settings, including the city, suburban areas, and a sequence in rural Buenos Aires.

The action scenes are filmed beautifully as well, with perfect amounts of cinematic splendor and gritty realism. There were a couple scenes of this type with longer takes than usual which impressed me. These scenes effectively create adrenaline and white-knuckled tension from the gunshots and hand-to-hand fight choreography.

The movie wastes very little time getting to the central story in which I found a lot to enjoy. Similarly to the first movie, “The Accountant 2” unravels a compelling mystery narrative with various suspects and victims and some decently compelling motivations behind them. The narrative is fairly unconventional, especially in how it deals with flashbacks and relays certain information.

My favorite part is the brother relationship depicted throughout the film. A big part of the story thread (and the one I found the most compelling) was the relationship between Christian and Braxton. This is something that was teased out at the end of the first film, and those who hoped to see it expounded upon in the sequel will not be disappointed. Again, this is another area where I think this movie improves on the first film. One scene in particular with the two of them actually managed to pull at my heart strings a little bit.

To an extent, “The Accountant 2” is in many ways a very different movie than I thought it would be, but in nearly all of the right ways. The marketing surrounding it is painting it as a fairly straight-forward shoot-em-up with various characters playing cat and mouse. However, I was surprised to find a large amount of character development and interaction between the two brothers which is quite enjoyable to watch.

Speaking of the characters, each of them are played and acted wonderfully by their respective actors. Ben Affleck perfectly enfleshes the bulky, autistic accountant Christian Wolff once again. While I’ve never been a huge Affleck fan, this is easily my favorite character that I’ve seen him play.

Jon Bernthal is also great as the egotistic yet empathetic hot rod who tags along with his older brother. The chemistry between these two, either when they talk together or rain gunfire on the enemy, could not be more perfect.

All the other actors are great as well. Cynthia Addai-Robinson is another standout, and she delivers just as well as she did in the first film. Everyone is perfectly cast and gives their A-game here.

Both “Accountant” movies are very funny and in similar ways. While the first made me chuckle more frequently, this one has some genuinely funny moments where I was laughing out loud. What I love about the humor of both is it doesn’t feel cheap. In a “Phase 5 of the MCU” world that we are currently in, I think most people have been accustomed to the corny one-liners that litter the typical blockbuster screenplay in an effort to get tushes in the seats. However, all the dialog here, especially the humor, feels earned, genuine, and true to the characters.

The Bad

I mostly love this movie, but I do have a few minor issues with its quality. The first is the narrative itself. While I was mostly intrigued by it, I think it is at times a bit too confusing for its own good. There are moments where I was unsure how we got to a certain point and was unsure exactly what was a stake.

However, I will qualify this issue in a couple of ways. First of all, I think this is a movie that requires multiple viewings (very much like the first film). It does not give you all the answers right away, and some of them not at all. In some ways I appreciate this a lot, because the storytellers do not pander to the audience. They treat the viewers as smart people capable of figuring out plot points on their own, rather than force feeding them.

That said, there were a couple moments that I do feel were a bit expository in nature. While they were necessary and few and far between, a couple times it feels like the story goes a bit off track for the sake of explaining. This is definitely a movie where you need to just sit back and enjoy the ride, while also being willing to perhaps watch the film more times in order to get more from it.

I also had some issues with the plotline that involves an underground hacking team that works for Christian. While I’ll admit this was very fun and told in a really engaging way, it strains credibility at points, and at times feels like a mini deus ex machina. It felt just a little bit like a cheap gimmick. If it was any bigger part of the story than it is, my issue would be compounded, but as of now it’s just a minor flaw for me.

Moral Elements

An interesting part of the movie for me was the relationship triangle between Christian, Braxton, and Medina. The film makes it clear at certain points where each of these characters stand on moral issues and breaking the law. In one scene, Medina says to Wolff, “You can’t just break the law when it suits you. No more violence.” Later she says, “We don’t get to decide who lives and who dies.” While the film never explicitly states why she bothers to says these things, on the surface these are ideas that a Christian can and should abide by.

“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” —James 4:17

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” —1 John 3:4

“There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” —James 4:12

It’s more complicated than that, however. Medina usually says things like this in response to lengths that the Wolff brothers will go to as means to an end. The tricky thing is that the film is unclear about which epistemological group we’re supposed to agree with. While I never recall the film ever saying things from the two brother’s perspectives, it seems to be implied that we have to understand where the brothers are coming from. So, while I appreciated that they put this conflict in between the brothers and Medina, I wish that they would have fleshed it out a bit more so that it was clearer where the movie was coming from.

An argument could be made that, even though the lengths that they go to may be unideal or even harmful, they are for the greater good that they are seeking. This would make some sense because of several of their plans within the movie that arguably necessitate some of their actions. I won’t spoil what these plans are, but what I’ll say is that it involves the rescue of various innocent individuals who are captured by corrupt mobsters. Even so, I do tend to think that an honest assessment shows that even if those ends are in a sense noble they both are (among other things) cold-blooded criminals willing to do nearly anything to achieve their ends.

However, we do start to see perhaps the more redemptive aspects of each of their characters later. In the final act, we realize that there is a specific group of people that the two brothers decide to go out and save. They are obviously putting their own lives on the line doing this, as well as doing it apparently because they both believe it is the right thing to do. I’ll leave this issue, as I believe this is most of the information you need to know to decide whether or not you should see the movie.

As I mentioned earlier, my favorite part is actually the relationship between the brothers that gets teased out through most of the runtime. There are a couple scenes where both of them realize that they have not been great brothers to each other over the years and acknowledge some relationship barriers that have come up between them. This is another spot where we see hints of redemption. While technically these moments are mostly surface level, I appreciated that the movie included them as they did. The themes of brotherly companionship and reunion are interesting to see and talk about, and I like how they weave those scenes in.

The Content

SEX/NUDITY: Mild. The most that happens is three prostitutes (modestly dressed except for slight cleavage) pass in front of a hotel and walk into one of the rooms. Nothing sexual occurs, however. We quickly learn that two men wanted specific information from them regarding their employers. One shot that lasts only a few seconds looks like the beginning of a rape attempt, but we do not see anything besides forced kissing. A character mentions another character sleeping with them. A man walks out of a shower in a towel. A man walks around a hotel in just his underwear. There is a background painting with the rear side of a human’s buttocks and legs (the gender is uncertain). There is a scene early on where Christian attempts to find a match for himself, and some of the ladies make comments such as, “Do you believe in true love?”

VIOLENCE: Moderately heavy to heavy. The last fifteen minutes of the film feature constant gun fire and explosions. We see several bloody onscreen deaths, and there are some offscreen as well. There are four or five scenes where people are shot in the head up close. There are many hand-to-hand combat scenes that sometimes end with bloodshed. A man dislocates another man’s shoulder to gain information. A man gets punched and falls onto a car from a story up. A man speaks of taking out someone’s eye in order to gain information from them. Several men are thrown out of a bar through the windows after an implied bar fight.

LANGUAGE: Heavy to Very Heavy. The language here is definitely worse than the first movie. Most of it comes from Braxton, who is quite the foul mouth. About 90% of all the language can be relegated to several scenes with him that make up 10% of the movie. Here is a list of al the language I was able to write down:

F-Word derivatives: f**k (23), f**king (19), f**ker (2), m*therf**ker (6), m*therf**king (1)

Sexual Gesture: 1 use of the middle finger

Scatological references: sh*t (4), bullsh*t (2), dogsh*t, holy sh*t, p*ssed

Vain references to deity: J*sus (2), J*sus Christ (1), Chr*st’s sake (1), g*dd*mn (7), oh my G*d (1), G*d (1), swear to G*d (1)

Anatomical references: a** (4), an*s (1), douchebag (1), p*ssy (1)

Throwaway profanities: d*mn (1)

Mild Insults: ding-dong (1)

Other: fricking (2), shut the front door (1), gee (1)

DRUGS/ALCOHOL: Mild to moderate. Braxton tells Christian, “I think we gotta go get drunk.” They both go visit a bar and have some drinks, but nothing much comes of it.

OCCULT: Minor. A Spanish character prays before a meal. A character says, “God-speed, non denominational!”

WOKEISM: None.

Final Thoughts

I believe “The Accountant 2” considered is a great sequel to the original movie. While I have only seen it once, at the moment I like it just as much as the first one, and there are even aspects within it that I think are improvements on the first movie! The acting, directing, dialog, character development, and fighting choreography are all top notch and make for a very entertaining film.

I loved all the intrigue in the story, and I love how many of the different pieces fell together in the end. While I did find the story a bit confusing at times, I think it’s a movie that needs to be watched multiple times anyways, and I would always rather have a slightly confusing plot than be pandered to.

While it is a movie that I enjoyed, I do not recommend it for everyone. The criminal characterizations and strong content make this one only for mature adults who are willing to talk through the different issues that the film brings up. I’ll leave you with a passage of Scripture:

”Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” —Romans 12:2

• Violence: Heavy
• Vulgar/Crude language: Heavy
• Profane language: Moderate
• Drugs/Alcohol: Moderate
• Sex: Mild
• Occult: Minor
• Nudity: None
• Wokeism: None

Learn about DISCERNMENT, wisdom in making personal entertainment decisions

FILM VIOLENCE—How does viewing violence in movies affect families?

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.