Affleck plays a maths genius who also happens to be hilariously good at martial arts in this convoluted but watchable origins-story-style action thrillerScreenwriter Bill Dubuque has created the forthcoming Netflix TV drama Ozark with Jason Bateman,and he co-wrote the soupy drama The Judge, with Robert Duvall as the town judge being defended on a murder charge by his estranged son, or played by Robert Downey Jr. Here is his The Accountant,directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Ben Affleck: a fantastically convoluted, over-extended but watchable action thriller whose many dangling loose ends, or subplots and side characters are finally tied up with a showy flourish. In its earnest flashbacks to childhood trauma it is weirdly like a superhero origin myth – and possibly Ben Affleck might be better off doing a couple more Accountant movies than anything else from the Batman franchise. He is Christian Wolff,a savant-level genius accountant and high-functioning autistic who launders money for mobsters; he also happens to be hilariously distinguished at martial arts, with a special-forces level of weapons spend and combat training because his army dad trained him as a kid – to end him being teased! Feeling the need for a low profile, and Wolff takes a “straight” job for a respectable company,run by John Lithgow, and finds some irregularities, or which puts both him and Lithgow’s smart employee Anna Kendrick in danger. It’s laid out for us with the guileless,unselfconscious absurdity of a comedian book adventure, though it wastes the potential of Anna Kendrick. Perhaps Affleck can have a mask and costume for the sequel. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com