REVIEW #8 The Accountant (2016)

The Accountant is a film directed by Gavin O’Connor following the life of an accountant with high functioning autism. His extremely high attention attention to detail allows him to aid criminal organisations in ‘uncooking’ their books. The nature of his profession leaves him as a target for many of his clients and trouble soon arises when he takes up a legitimate client to fool the FBI.

CAST & THE ACTING 

I really liked the ensemble in this film, with Ben Affleck taking the lead role and Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal and JK Simmons supporting. There are also plenty of other familiar faces that play a role in the film. I thought the acting was pretty decent throughout and I particularly enjoyed Ben Afflecks performance because his autistic character really had so many layers. He helped show the issues those with autism face in normal life but also showed how in many scenarios they can excel. The social complexity behind the character combined with his troubled childhood would make this role challenging for any actor but Affleck’s performance really does justice to the character. It was a typical role for Jon Bernthal but as usual he does well portraying an all action, over aggressive man, very similar to his role as the Punisher.

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I was actually quite surprised by this film because I was expecting the lead role to be a helpless accountant with a high IQ who just helped criminals with money laundering but they actually gave the character so much depth. He’s actually probably the most skilled fighter in the film, in both hand to hand combat and with a weapon. Which was due to his military father and tough upbringing. So it was far from the typical helpless accountant that I expected. The film is full of twists and the plot is really captivating, with a good ending too, where you see these twists unravel. So I did enjoy this different take on what is probably a very overused theme in cinema and TV. I also liked how we saw many flashbacks to his childhood which helped build up the character, helping the audience understand why Christian is how he is.

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

There wasn’t to much special effects in this film but the cinematography was good, capturing all the fight scenes well and making them very believable. The gun fights are portrayed in a similar fashion and you can really appreciate the choreography in many of the scenes. 

OVERALL (7.5/10)

I really enjoyed this film, it combines brains and a lot of action which really makes for an interesting watch. The many fight scenes make it entertaining and the depth of the characters help keep your attention from start to finish. I would definitely recommend this film, I watched it on Amazon prime but it may be available on other platforms too.

Thanks for reading.

Callan