Having played a blind superhero more than a decade ago in "Daredevil," and a daring depressive this spring in "Batman v Superman," Ben Affleck now goes one better. In "The Accountant," he's a genius CPA whose autism makes him withdrawn, intensely focused and largely unconcerned with other people's emotions. As well as a deadly rifleman, lethal martial arts brawler and international man of mystery.
Slip beyond the unusual premise, and the film is an odd but coherent mix of story-driven detective movie, character-driven financial thriller, action drama and understated sardonic comedy. It sounds peculiar and perverse, but it is by and large crackling good entertainment. While Gavin O'Connor, who directs, and Bill Dubuque, who wrote, attempt to cram more melodrama into the movie than it can easily absorb, this is a mystery that is unusually compelling. The surprises that earn a "Really? Seriously?" reaction are outnumbered by jolts worth a "Wow, didn't see that coming." The reservations are there, but moments of admiration outweigh them.
Affleck, playing protagonist Christian Wolff, is introduced as a savant helping small-town types find the best way around the 1040 better than TurboTax can. He speaks with them as if from a distance, avoids eye contact, gestures with the artificial style of a marionette and eats solitary dinners in a home as empty as a shoebox. His refusal of direct contact is traced to his childhood, where his behavior as a distant and hyperactive little boy put his mother in hysterics of her own.
When Mom ran from her marriage, Christian and his intense young brother were raised by their Army officer father. Treated like recruits rather than relations, they were trained with a level of military discipline and commando drills that few parents could impose without being certified insane. But those skills serve Christian surprisingly well in adulthood. Emotionally distant from challenges that would alarm many others, he has traveled the world while posing as an everyday bean counter, serving the sorts of highly lucrative, dangerous clients who use handguns as paperweights.
He is in twin gun sights. As the Treasury Department's Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King (J.K. Simmons), launches an investigation, a mysterious vigilante named Braxton (Jon Bernthal) is striking against evildoers very much like Christian's secret clientele. Hiding in plain sight, Christian takes on an apparently lawful customer. That would be Lamar Black (John Lithgow), a tech guru who needs the freelance forensic accountant to uncook the books of his big company, where an accounting clerk (Anna Kendrick) has discovered millions of dollars missing. As Christian starts to uncover the truth, the shootouts, fight scenes and body count begin to increase.
Kendrick is very funny, playing her character as a teenager math nerd at heart, a self-conscious wallflower who recognizes a kindred spirit in the shy Christian. In scenes recalling the strange love affair in "A Beautiful Mind," the socially inept couple develop an unexpected rapport. When dire circumstances send them down a shared path, she demonstrates survival skills that would impress a Navy SEAL. Despite its excellent supporting cast, she and Affleck are the main reason to see "The Accountant," playing together with the sort of ease and self-assurance that is, in a movie, as exhilarating as it is rare.
