Accountant
becomes determined to protect.
“The Accountant” is mildly charming as Dana and the awkward Christian spend time together, Affleck and Kendrick (“Pitch Perfect 2,” “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates”) enjoying a usual if pleasant on-screen chemistry. Christian explains that he’d like to be able to be closer to someone but finds it very difficult, and she looks at him with sympathetic eyes.
Unfortunately, as the story progresses, we get less of Kendrick’s Dana and more of a violent mercenary played by Jay Bernthal who is hired to deal with Christian. While Bernthal — an alum of “The Walking Dead” who portrayed The Punisher in the second season of Netflix’s “Daredevil” — is fine in the role, his character proves to be one more puzzle piece “The Accountant” doesn’t really need.
But the end, the script by Bill Dubuque (“The Judge”) is revealing pieces you didn’t even know were missing from the puzzle. Worse, “The Accountant” relies too heavily on flashbacks. The scenes peppered throughout the film that take us back to Christian’s childhood and explain how he became who he is are, for the most part, tolerable. However, a lengthy flashback in the homestretch involving Ray all but saps the momentum of the story.
Giving fully into that storytelling device is the only real sin committed by O’Connor (“Miracle,” “Warrior”). Amazingly, he gives “The Accountant” the perfect tone; it takes its ridiculous story just seriously enough while giving us enough humor to keep things reasonably light.
The numbers may not add quite up, but “The Accountant” is an entertaining equation we may never have seen before — or ever will again.