MINIMILISM

THE ACCOUNTANT. Directed by Gavin O’Connor, with Anna Kendrick, Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons and Jon Bernthal. named Brax (Jon Bernthal) start coming after Christian and anyone else who gets in their way, which clicks on the bodycount register.

At this point, Affleck may as well have put on his Batman suit, as he’s obliged to spend most of his time from here on taking down Brax’s goons, either with rifles so huge that they look like only a superhero could lift them or in hand-to-hand combat, specifically the Indonesian martial art called pentjak silat — employed here probably because it’s been little-seen in American films compared to more familiar Asian fighting styles (it was featured far more extensively and amazingly in the two Raid features).

By the time push comes to kill, the ingenuity of the central concept has been reduced and abandoned for the sake of generic action moves. Thus is a relatively unconventional idea converted into a conventional film, which is a disappointment, as who’s to say that an on-the-spectrum genius might not be just the right iteration of crime fighter for the current season?

For a good little while, The Accountant is sufficiently different from standard-issue, big studio R-rated action dramas to keep an audience with it, and Affleck’s tightly wound, subtle, quietly mischievous performance compounds the pleasure. The star is onscreen alone a good deal of the time, and he sustains unbroken viewer interest in a character of a sort hardly anyone would ever get to know in real life. Every gesture, look and utterance has a purpose, no movement is wasted and the minimalism is all the more effective coming from a big man. And certainly the goofy contradiction implicit in seeing this hulk do the work of a socially awkward math teacher proves more amusing than watching him spring into heroics peering down the barrel of a very long rifle.

Kendrick provides a good foil for Affleck, while the rest of the stellar cast is vastly overqualified for what they’re asked to do in the film’s roster of uninterestingly written supporting roles. - Hollywood Reporter

Ben Affleck’s tightly-wound performance compounds the pleasure