Film Review: ‘The Accountant’ Adds up to Greatness

 

(Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

 

 

Affleck Makes Accounting Look Gangster 


1/2

 

When one thinks of accounting, many think about taxes, calculators, pocket protectors and the nerds that revel in the excitement of numbers.


When one thinks of accounting, many probably do not think of gangsters and assassins.


That is because most accountants are not like The Accountant, Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck).


In the movie “The Accountant,” Young Chris (Seth Lee) is an exceptional young man.


He is beyond brilliant.  He is more genius than just brilliant.


However, he does suffer from social anxieties and does not fit into the world’s definition of normal.


Chris’ only true friend in the world is his brother who does not judge Chris for his eccentricities, but has his back against anyone who does.


While a neuroscience center in New Hampshire wants to take Young Chris in and help him develop life skills with peers who are unique like him, his father, a soldier, has his own plan to help Chris survive in the world.


He is determined that his son will survive in the real world without being reduced to a doormat, training him to defend himself with his hands and weaponry.


The stress of raising a unique son, breaks the Wolff’s marriage up, but bonds the Wolff men together forever.


When Young Chris visits the neuroscience center in 1989, he posses no life skills and an uncertain future.


Fast-forward to the present day, and Christian is a successful accountant who is a genius at helping the residents in Scottsdale, Ariz. avoid high taxes.


His existence is totally off of the radar, until he begins to be seen in pictures with mob figures and terrorists.


The Treasury Department wants to find out who this mysterious figure is and they enlist FBI agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to uncover his identity.


What Marybeth finds is much more than a simple accountant, but a math whiz who is able to un-cook the books for any company or organization in order to see who stole money from these powerful groups.


Unfortunately, stealing from the wealthy, powerful and dangerous leads to violence.


But lucky for the accountant, violence is something that he was raised around thanks to his father’s child-rearing tactics.


“The Accountant” adds up to greatness no matter how one does the math.


Affleck is great, Anna Kendrick (Dana Cummings) is great with her usual quirkiness and Jon Bernthal (Braxton) is Affleck’s equal in the area of greatness.


Christian makes math and “nerdiness” cool, which is very hard to do.


He is a “brain” who makes a lot of money, but he is by no means soft.


“The Accountant” also shows the genius that exists in children with autism, with Christian becoming almost like a hero despite his violent behavior.


Unfortunately for “The Accountant,” the culprits behind a theft that Christian is investigating become somewhat obvious before it is revealed.


But one revelation at the end of “The Accountant” is totally unexpected, but eventually makes total sense.


And although it does not usually make sense to say accountant and gangster in the same sentence, “The Accountant” is not the usual number cruncher.


He is just as much a gangster as he is a math genius.


REGAL RATINGS

FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT

THREE CROWNS=GOOD

TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE

ONE CROWN=POOR


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top