The Accountant 2

4 outta 5

The Accountant 2 is more freewheeling and fun than its 2016 predecessor, The Accountant. The big twist at the end of the first film, that two main characters were long lost siblings, is now out in the open and the movie vibes on their brotherly dynamic. It’s a lot more fun as Jon Bernthal gets to go loud with some great quips as his character is perpetually frustrated dealing with his strange brother played with engaging quirkiness by Ben Affleck. The actual crime plot of the film is a little bit muddled and never as engaging as the dynamic between Bernthal and Affleck, but when the action kicks in there is satisfying boom and crunch.

When semi-retired Treasury Secretary, Raymond King (J. K. Simmons) is killed in a shootout, Agent Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) wants to find the criminals that are responsible. She goes to an old associate, Christian Wolff (Affleck), an autistic accountant who specializes in criminal dealings and is also a crackerjack assassin on his own. They discover a human trafficking ring, which leads to a confrontation with the deadly Anaïs (Daniella Pineda). The criminal empire is run by the mastermind, Burke (Robert Morgan) and his ruthless gunman, Cobb (Grant Harvey). To combat all these evildoers, Christian must reach out to his also assassin brother and generally irritated Braxxton (Bernthal), so they must fight together as brothers and deal with their interpersonal complex history. And all while the killers are moving around migrants for profit and the duo are uncovering dark secrets of the human trafficking ring.

The best thing about the movie is seeing Affleck and Bernthal bounce off each other. If Christian keeps all of his feelings bottled up, then Braxxton always yells it. At one moment, Braxxton yells about how hard it was to look after Christian, saying how Christian came off as the “weird kid” and then he had to go kick some ass. Braxxton says he is happy to be alone but he is searching for companionship in a lot of ways, like a funny bit when he tries to get a puppy from the breeder earlier. Later, Christian sizes him up, saying that due to Braxxton’s odd work schedule, that Braxxton is more of a cat person.

Both guys have unique character-building scenes. Christian manipulates the data hacks on a dating service website and matches with dozens of women at a singles meet up event, although his autistic and fidgety habits make it hard for him to connect with any of them. Another cool moment is when Christian uses his powers of accountancy to figure out that a pizza making plant is laundering human trafficking money, leading to a cool bit when Christian talks about hiding money and then immediately starts kicking ass. One time when him and Braxxton are at a Western bar, Christian connects with a lady on the dance floor, enraging another guy. This leads to a funny shot from outside the bar of the tough guys being thrown out a window as Braxxton and Christian ride off.

There is also a moment when the two meet up with a human trafficking criminal and then Braxxton punches him so hard the guy falls off a roof and lands on a car, with Braxxton saying he wasn’t sure he hit him that hard. Then they stuff the guy into the trunk of their car and ride away, much to the consternation of Agent Medina. She spends most of the movie reacting to the crazy things that the guys do, as she is brought into the proceedings as a standard plot contrivance “getting revenge for the death of her mentor”. She is one of the few returning characters from the first film, same for J.K. Simmons. As the Head Treasury agent, he gets a gunfight with the bad guys that is intense. It is an easy move to kill off a big character from the first film at the start of a sequel, but it makes viewers invested.

Morgan as Burke gets in some moments as the evil, uncaring mastermind of the human trafficking ring and his final scene has a great moment where his bad guy gets comeuppance. Pineda as Anaïs is a cold-blooded killer, even though she says she refuses to take out kids, and then more her dark backstory is revealed, and she is quite good at glaring angrily. Harvey as Cobb looks ruthless as his assassin guns people down, and he gets in some very disturbing bits as the criminals try to wipe out the evidence of their human trafficking ring. The finale battle has the brothers racing against time to save the victims, with cool shoots out featuring Christian with a well-timed flattening of a goon with a truck. They both look very messy at the end as they have gone through hell to save everyone. There is a bunch of cool action stuff throughout The Accountant 2 that make for a solid action romp, as Affleck and Bernthal are an awesome dynamic duo.