Film: The Accountant
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Cast: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons
For a while, The Accountant trundles on with a heavy sense of purpose, as though burdened by its own awareness of what it seemingly believes to be brilliance. The protagonist, Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck ironically asked to be emotionless), has a disorder that’s revealed through quick flashbacks. “I’d prefer not to label it,” says the doctor in one of the flashbacks when the concerned parents want to know what he’s suffering from. Meanwhile, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) of the Department of the Treasury is on the hunt for this mysterious accountant, who has also likely dispatched a mafia group with considerable ease. Also, meanwhile, another deadly assassin is tying up loose ends. Also, meanwhile, the CEO of a robotics company is looking to clean up his company’s finances. As you can see, there’s plenty going on, and yet, rather likeably, the pace of The Accountant remains unaffected.
This also has the desired effect of providing the film’s characters with history. The Treasury investigator has withheld a criminal background from her employer. The Treasury head, Ray King (J. K. Simmons), is burdened by a secret of his own. Even an old couple that Christian befriends early on don’t feel planted, despite featuring in just three scenes. They are all living, breathing characters, and yet... frustratingly, this depth never really translates into the groundbreaking conflicts the film’s mood keeps hinting at.
Christian’s itself is a rather questionable characterisation. Must you take sides with a man, simply because he contends with a disorder? A man, who otherwise is a rather selfish accountant who has no moral issues with abetting drug cartels and money launderers, as Medina points out. Even though the movie belabours the point that he gives away his income to a charitable institution, it doesn’t quite make him seem virtuous.
It’s when he is left to his own devices that the film is most enjoyable. Like when he builds his tolerance for the outside world by practising with strobe lights and heavy metal music. Like the almost eidetic way in which he assimilates financial information. But these are sadly just footnotes to many, many pages of an aimless book.
As is only expected of a film that deals with a disorder, a narrator explains at the end that autism—which is what Chris supposedly suffers from—affects a sizeable percentage of the population, and tries to encourage sensitivity towards the condition. But considering that Affleck’s character almost romanticises it as a superpower, the narrator may well have not bothered.
Sudhir Srinivasan
The Accountant
Genre:Action thriller
Director:Gavin O’Connor
Cast:Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons
Storyline:A mathematics savant, who deals with criminal organisations, unwittingly gets an innocent woman into trouble
Bottomline:A potential asset turns into a liability
