Tropic Sprocket / The Accountant

By Ian Brockway

Gavin O’ Connor (Warrior) directs a very suspenseful but thin hit-man film entitled “The Accountant.” Though the film is far fetched and simplistic, it has Ben Affleck as an anti-hero with some highly charged action sequences. The bone-crunching combat scenes play well and are almost enough to relieve the melodrama.

Christian Wolff (Affleck) is a savant with a high aptitude for facts and numbers. He works as an accountant for criminal companies that hire him to find irregularities. Only one man Raymond King (J.K. Simmons) has an inkling that The Accountant has a double life as a hired gun for those that have cash, Jackson Pollock paintings, rare Superman comics, or something to offer.

Wolff is a highly functioning person with autism who was bullied as a kid. His father took him to train with elite warriors so that he could protect himself. Consequently he has the fight knowledge of a Green Beret, a Navy SEAL or a martial arts expert.When Wolff is having a hard day he puts on heavy metal music with an eye scorching strobe light and digs into his leg with an iron bar before going to sleep.

Ouch.

Wolff meets Dana (Anna Kendrick ) a cheerful and ordinary girl who works with him on a case for Living Robotics, a hi-tech company. They exchange flat pleasantries.  When Wolff discovers that Dana is being targeted, along with the agony that his math equations are erased from the walls, he goes into a rage that spurs him to action.

There is a sadistic killer Brax (Jon Bernthal) and a corporate villain Blackburn (John Lithgow)  who join forces, along with two other subplots.  Although Affleck’s monotone delivery does fit in with the autism aspect, the dialogue is comical as Kendrick trades awkward exchanges with the popular actor.

Beyond the action there is not much to reveal. As Wolff intervenes in the fate of a well meaning couple, Frank and Dolores Rice (Ron Prather and Susan Williams), he seems interchangeable with The Batman. Though it all we learn that Wolff has a moral code as a vigilante, but this is not explained. Lithgow although fine, plays a hysterical bad guy… yet again.

While the premise of an autistic hit man is compelling, one needs a bit more than Affleck being a mannequin with a penchant for painful masochism that comes off as unreal. The fight scenes are indeed enjoyable and fans of action will be well-sated. As soon as the crunching is over however, the film bends backwards to explain loose ends. The showdown between Wolff and Brax stretches the bounds of melodrama.

Overall, whether intended or not “The Accountant” betrays moments of humor. One day the stilted exchanges between Affleck and Kendrick may be viewed in the same way as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.

Write Ian at [email protected]

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]