The Accountant 2

 

“Is there anything better in this world than punching somebody in the face who’s got it coming!?”

Explosive, brash but morally questionable, The Accountant 2 thrives when it focuses on the brotherly banter of Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal in a sequel that ups the ante to be bigger and brawlier than before but brings a whole new meaning to ‘special’ forces - for better and for worse. 

Discussion Points:

When Gavin O’Connor gave us The Accountant in 2016 it was a pleasant surprise. Not just a mindless shoot-em-up, it was a film that actually had an emotionally core and a unique concept. Whilst some saw it as problematic to have a non-neurodivergent actor playing an autistic character, Ben Affleck was still lauded for his fantastic performance. The first film also introduced his estranged brother played by Jon Bernthal, and the sequels main hook and biggest strength is the team-up between the two to break-up a human trafficking ring. Their brotherly dynamic is an absolute delight as Braxton stirs his older sibling constantly but also tries to connect with the emotional distant Christian. However, the sequel also takes the biggest criticisms of the first and doubles down on them with even less Anna Kendrick (= zero) and way more weaponised autism (= a whole basement full of ‘special’ forces) which can’t help but feel uncomfortably problematic. Why the film feels so uncomfortable saying the words autistic and instead refers to his “condition” I’m not sure because especially these days there is far more awareness and comfort around recognising neurodiversity and whilst the first rarely used his autism as a punchline, in the sequel there are far more comedic moments based around his ASD ranging from him attempting to reverse engineer a speed dating event to him recognising the patterns in line dancing that leads to him rizzing with the ‘tism and starting a bar brawl. But insensitivities aside, it also wouldn’t be an accountant film without a third act expositional info dump to Agent Medina who returns to take the lead from J.K. Simmons and walk the line between the law and the lawless. Like the first, the story definitely becomes overly convoluted and the plastic surgery twist only adds more problematic connotations (is she meant to look transracial?, why did the trauma make her more femme fatale?) but outside of the messy morals, there’s a really solid and entertaining brother buddy up blow out that has way less math and way more “Sound of Freedom” and autistic teens co-opted into an illegal assassins outfit.