At best, The Accountant may be worth checking out for its very personable ensemble. Led by the deceptively mild-mannered Ben Affleck, they elevate the film above the standard B-movie entertainment.
It leaves so many plot holes and loose ends flailing about I wonder if the hope is to turn this into a franchise? It definitely seems to set itself up for a sequel no one will want to see.
The movie isn't some wicked subversion suggesting that the world is so corrupt that the bad guys are really the good guys. Rather it's a movie that can't figure out what might constitute a good or a bad guy in the first place.
A movie that could easily have been familiar, disposable entertainment but is made with sufficient competence and energy to capture the viewer's attention and linger a little after the end credits have rolled.
The Accountant should be a straight-ahead thriller, but the film keeps tripping over its own incompetent feet. Maybe it was made for adults, but it sure doesn't feel like it was made by them.
Affleck plays a math wiz whose position on the autism spectrum allegedly makes him a perfect assassin. That notion is offensive on so many levels, especially in the service of such low-grade crime fiction, that it's painful to watch.
