The Accountant revolves around a mysterious, autistic accountant (Affleck) whose role goes well beyond that of accountancy. As we learn about 'the accountant' (both his past and present), as well as an ongoing treasury investigation into his activities, events start to unravel and several characters find their lives in danger.
First off, I should say that The Accountant does so much right. It's engaging, exciting and thoroughly entertaining. The plot hooks the audience in from the opening scene and keeps you right through to the end. The story is novel, fairly distinctive and a little more intelligent than your bog-standard thriller. This an action thriller made by someone who actually cares about making good cinema.
The acting is very good across the board including another strong performance from Ben Affleck, who's much underrated in my book thanks to some poor film choices in his early days. Since Argo he's very much back in favour with 'those who matter' though and it's great to see him getting the lead in another serious film, without him having to direct.
Some of the techniques used to link characters to their 'younger selves' or to connect their thought processes in multiple scenes were very slick; subtle, but just enough to allow the viewer to make the connection.
Finally, the relationship between Kendrick & Affleck (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler) is just enough without going beyond their own social limitations.
However, there were a couple of areas where the movie let itself down a touch. Firstly the plot became a little convoluted, which at the time I was fine with because it felt like a complex story which may require a second watch to fully appreciate. However, when the ending is revealed it leaves you feeling a little like 'who cares?' or 'so that was all for nothing then?'.
In all honesty, the plot just ended up a little far-fetched and convenient, even for Hollywood and I think the director got a little carried away with the film being 'cool' rather than 'stellar'. For some reason, I went into the film thinking I'd seen somewhere that it was based on a true story. Safe to say by about two thirds of the way through I'd well and truly dismissed that notion. There's just no way something like this could ever play out in real life, which left me a little disappointed as the film didn't need to go as far as it did. There was a perfectly legitimate and just as exciting story in there without the embellishment. A few too many unrealistic action sequences (one in particular) and 'what are the chances?' type moments for my liking. In fact one of the characters actually asks 'the accountant' this question near the end of the film, to which our autistic friend begins to calculate the odds before being shut off as it was 'a rhetorical question'. Safe to say had he been allowed to answer this question he would have identified that the chances were practically impossible of all things playing out in this film how they did.
In summary, if you like thrillers, go see this movie. If you like Ben Affleck, go see this movie. In fact, if you like any half-decent film, go see this movie. If however you're only in pursuit of movie-perfection, then this one doesn't quite cut it.
P.S. How many films is Shane from The Walking Dead managing to get himself in???
First off, I should say that The Accountant does so much right. It's engaging, exciting and thoroughly entertaining. The plot hooks the audience in from the opening scene and keeps you right through to the end. The story is novel, fairly distinctive and a little more intelligent than your bog-standard thriller. This an action thriller made by someone who actually cares about making good cinema.
The acting is very good across the board including another strong performance from Ben Affleck, who's much underrated in my book thanks to some poor film choices in his early days. Since Argo he's very much back in favour with 'those who matter' though and it's great to see him getting the lead in another serious film, without him having to direct.
Some of the techniques used to link characters to their 'younger selves' or to connect their thought processes in multiple scenes were very slick; subtle, but just enough to allow the viewer to make the connection.
Finally, the relationship between Kendrick & Affleck (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler) is just enough without going beyond their own social limitations.
However, there were a couple of areas where the movie let itself down a touch. Firstly the plot became a little convoluted, which at the time I was fine with because it felt like a complex story which may require a second watch to fully appreciate. However, when the ending is revealed it leaves you feeling a little like 'who cares?' or 'so that was all for nothing then?'.
In all honesty, the plot just ended up a little far-fetched and convenient, even for Hollywood and I think the director got a little carried away with the film being 'cool' rather than 'stellar'. For some reason, I went into the film thinking I'd seen somewhere that it was based on a true story. Safe to say by about two thirds of the way through I'd well and truly dismissed that notion. There's just no way something like this could ever play out in real life, which left me a little disappointed as the film didn't need to go as far as it did. There was a perfectly legitimate and just as exciting story in there without the embellishment. A few too many unrealistic action sequences (one in particular) and 'what are the chances?' type moments for my liking. In fact one of the characters actually asks 'the accountant' this question near the end of the film, to which our autistic friend begins to calculate the odds before being shut off as it was 'a rhetorical question'. Safe to say had he been allowed to answer this question he would have identified that the chances were practically impossible of all things playing out in this film how they did.
In summary, if you like thrillers, go see this movie. If you like Ben Affleck, go see this movie. In fact, if you like any half-decent film, go see this movie. If however you're only in pursuit of movie-perfection, then this one doesn't quite cut it.
P.S. How many films is Shane from The Walking Dead managing to get himself in???