In 2016's The Accountant, Ben Affleck plays Christian Wolff, a high- functioning autistic math genius usually hired to find faulty or illegal accounting practices as well as embezzlement for underworld types.
He is sometimes paid in valuable paintings, gold bars, comic books, etc.
Although as a child a pediatrician wanted him to stay with him and other children in a peaceful environment, his military father disagreed. If Christian was sensitive to light and sound, he needed more light and sound. The world was not going to accommodate him. He and his brother Braxton received training in self-protection and other skills so that they could make their way in the world.
Treasury department director, Ray Kinghas (J.K. Simmons) calls in Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), an efficiency expert with the department who has a police record she lied about. He blackmails her into locating this accountant and shows her pictures of him meeting with all sorts of mob bosses. He is retiring soon and he wants the man's identity known before he leaves.
When a young woman, Dana (Anna Kendrick) at the company Living Robotics finds a $61 million discrepancy in the books, Christian is hired to do an audit by the Blackburns (John Lithgow and Jean Smart), who are brother and sister.
The audit is soon called off after the financial director is murdered and it's made to look like a suicide. Dana and Christian are hunted by hit men.
Medina finally learns Christian's identity and she and Ray are soon on his trail.
This is an excellent film with a couple of very neat twists you won't see coming. The film goes from flashbacks of Christian's turbulent childhood and other events and then back to the present. The director, Gavin O'Connor, does an excellent job of pulling it all together.
Ben Affleck isn't my favorite actor, though he is certainly a smart man and talented in other directions. He does a good job here - it's a role that requires no emotion, and while I think he's capable of more than that, he handles it well. Plus there's always something likable about him.
Some wonderful actors in this cast: John Lithgow, Jean Smart, Cynthia Addai- Robinson, Anna Kendrick, and of course, J.K. Simmons - you really can't miss.
Highly recommended - intriguing, sometimes scary, sometimes exciting, and surprising.
