Sometimes movies, like Sinners, are amazing because they transcend their respective and underestimated genres to become true cinematic achievements. Other times, you have movies like The Accountant 2, that simply double down on the genre they’re aiming for, playing to their strengths. And you know what? Those work too!
That is to say The Accountant 2 is simply just a fun action romp. It’s proof that a movie doesn’t have to be profound or deep to be a good time at the movies and that’s perfectly okay! The action is fun. The characters are fun. However, most of all, the chemistry between leads Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal is as charming as it is electric! That’s the biggest selling point for this overdue sequel.
The follow up to director Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant finds returning character, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) investigating the death of J.K. Simmons’ Raymond King (also making a brief return) at the hands of a group of dangerous assassins with ties to a human trafficking ring. With the only clue King left behind being the message “find the accountant,” Medina is forced to reunite with Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) to uncover and track down the parties responsible for King’s death, and get justice once and for all. However, this time, Christian isn’t alone! He’s bringing his free-wheeling, spirited brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) with him! From there, the hijinks ensue.
One thing you likely would have never anticipated after seeing The Accountant was probably…well, a sequel…but also a pivot to an action buddy comedy of the Lethal Weapon variety. That’s what The Accountant 2 does, and honestly, I’m not mad at it. By pairing the unlikely duo of Bernthal’s wildman with Affleck’s straight man, you get a surprisingly enjoyable time at the movies. It helps considerably that O’Connor isn’t trying to fool anyone, knowing full well he intends for this to be cut from the same cloth as silly ’80s action films like Road House, complete with bar brawls and bullets.
This is a movie that can get away with a full scene of Affleck’s Christian learning to line dance to get close to an attractive waitress who is into him, before pivoting not long after to a shootout in Mexico. It works because everyone is on the same page about the tone, while Affleck and Bernthal play it incredibly straight. The action is fun, the tone lighter, the jokes are funny, and the stakes are equal to those of a fun and forgettable camp action film from the era of VHSes.
Front and center are the terrific performances of Affleck and Bernthal, and also their fantastic chemistry. Affleck’s Christian, as he was in the first film, is stoic, but intelligent. Given his character has autism, as we knew from the first film, Affleck immerses himself into the role to give us a fair portrayal of a neurodivergent character. He realistically and subtly portrays a side of himself that has trouble connecting with others. However, he portrays Christian as brilliantly always one step ahead of his enemies (in a shootout as well as the dance floor), and shows he can handle an action scene without batting an eye. So you can easily buy him as an action star at 52 moreso than you ever could at 32. This straight-laced role, however, is much less fun when you don’t have another character to bounce off of.
Enter Bernthal! For every moment we spend with Christian applying sunscreen to his pasty legs on top of an RV (that’s not a joke by the way), there’s a moment where Braxton will just grab the sunscreen and chuck it off the roof. That’s a microcosm that summarizes why this works. This is the type of role and performance tailormade for Bernthal’s brand of rebellious, punk rock, short-fused badassery. The fun in The Accountant 2 is literally and almost exclusively derived from the dynamic between the by-the-books Affleck and the burn-the-f**king-book Bernthal. The movie would literally be nothing without the oil and water chemistry these two share. Bernthal infuses Braxton with so much chaotic wild-card energy, with the character influencing his brother to live a little. Affleck’s proper and dignified Christian influencing Braxton to get his act together, just a little.
As hilarious and volatile as this chemistry can be, what’s surprising is also the amount of heart both actors bring to their characters and their relationships. Despite Christian’s challenges, the love he has for his brother is never missing, and Affleck excels at playing the awkward and stoic stone-faced nature of his character, while infusing it with emotion underneath the surface. It’s the subtlety in his eyes, and his facial expression, along with the delivery and inflection of his lines to Braxton that tell us how he really feels about his brother. Whereas Bernthal’s portrayal of Braxton is an absolute fit for his badass-with-a-heart sensibilities. He might say more on the surface than Affleck’s Christian, and may be a lot more impulsive, but the pain and sadness in his voice reveals a vulnerable character masking emotions with bullets (in some ways essentially The Punisher). Overall, it’s what this movie needs for success, and thankfully O’Connor gets this and uses it to the fullest potential of his leads.
The rest of the supporting cast is fine. I like that POCs like Addai-Robinson and Daniella Pineda are sharing a fair amount of the spotlight. While the focus of the film is primarily the Affleck/Bernthal show, Addai-Robinson gets you to genuinely care about Medina. The emotional connection to her is genuinely strong when the character is put in danger. That’s because of Addai-Robinson’s ability to humanize her as the middle ground personality between the volatile Braxton and overly reserved Christian. Whereas Pineda goes full “terminator” here as Anaïs; a strong badass who is actually quite menacing. Essentially depicting an almost opposite, darker version of Christian, Pineda’s steely coldness ensures that her ominous presence is felt as further emotional truths are revealed about her character, and how she fits into the larger human traffic narrative in the story.
Another new face to The Accountant universe is Allison Robertson, taking over the role of Justine from Alison Wright from the first film. Robertson, who is really on the spectrum in real life, portrays Christian’s behind-the-scenes “guy in the chair” aiding him with various technical tasks like hacking and tracking alongside students of the Harbor Neuroscience institute. Robertson does a great job from the command center she’s confined to, but secretly, and in a nice way, Wright’s still able to give a vocal performance for the character, given Justine is non-verbal, and speaks through a tablet. Both actresses do lovely work bringing this complex character to life.
Going into the action sequences of the movie, I had a ton of fun with them! The final shootout at the end is really enjoyable in a “call of duty” sort of way. While the danger didn’t feel real for most of the movie, apart from one scene with Medina, it managed to take me back to the final act shootouts ofpeak Willis/Stallone/ Schwarzenegger films, where you know the heroes will make it, but you enjoy the theatricality of it all.
If there’s one thing the movie has going against it, however, it’s in a way, the tired White-savior trope. To have two White men coming into Mexico to stop a human trafficking ring to save a bunch of Latino children feels incredibly dated in its narrative logic. At a time when the US and Mexico could not be at further ends with one another, to have a movie that essentially ends with Caucasian male leads busting past the border to perform an act of heroism for Latino characters to be grateful for seems, in some ways, tone deaf. That being said, it’s a minor, personal quibble I doubt many others will find in the film, and one that ultimately did not detract from my overall enjoyment of it as pure popcorn entertainment.
The Accountant 2 isn’t Shakespeare, but it knows what it wants to be: a buddy cop film like Lethal Weapon. As such, it absolutely nails what it’s trying to go for with fun and entertaining textbook action scenes, and stellar performances and chemistry from Bernthal and Affleck. I’ll be the first to admit that following the first film, which I thought was fine, I wasn’t clamoring for a sequel. However, if O’Connor and Affleck are willing to give us more of the goods that they deliver on here, with explosive shootouts and sincerely funny humor and heart, then you know what? Count me in for a third film!
Rating: 8/10