There isn’t a lot of math in “The Accountant 2,” but plenty adds up.
Ben Affleck (without a superhero costume) and Jon Bernthal as his cocky brother manage to hold attention in a story that’s so wide-ranging it’s impossible to itemize its strengths.
Key, though, is the brother/brother relationship.
While Affleck’s Christian Wolff is a socially inept accountant with a side hustle as an assassin, Bernthal’s Braxton is much more adept at working the angles and confronting the bad guys.
Brax (Jon Bernthal), left, and Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) in "The Accountant 2."
The two are pulled into a case after the death of a former director of the U.S. Treasury. As they dig a little deeper, they discover a trafficking situation that, apparently, is minutes from blowing sky high.
When the two finally get to pause (atop Christian’s Airstream), you realize much of director Gavin O’Connor’s story requires clues to magically present themselves. Cynthia Addai-Robinson as the dead man’s successor takes a much more audience-friendly approach to connecting the dots. She has a wall of suspects (do all investigators do this?) and plenty of “strings attached” situations.
Before the Wolff brothers even get to the deeper tragedy, they’ve got to break a lot of bones and shed a lot of blood. More interesting than that journey is the way a group of oh-so-smart kids can “X-Men” information and get it to the good guys before it’s too late.
“Accountant 2” suggests there’s a quick way to discover everything. It’s just a matter of finding the source and zooming in.
Ben Affleck goes after traffickers in "The Accountant 2," a sequel to an earlier film.
In this film’s case, a woman from Iowa took a selfie on the street. The kids found her phone, hacked into its contents, enlarged the photo and found a person in the background who was a key witness to a whole lot of trouble. In seconds, they’ve tracked her down and begun a bigger hunt.
It’s fascinating to watch — particularly since this “Big Brother” view of cellphones is routinely pooh-poohed by those in charge. Still, the method does draw concern and hints at a bigger story.
The brothers don’t tackle that (a sequel is likely) but they do suggest there’s a place for their brand of justice, if it’s tied to the right side.
Bernthal shows more personality than Affleck, but Affleck gets the lighter lift. When he does go out of his comfort zone (to try speed-dating and line dancing), he makes this more than his franchise version of “John Wick” or any number of those Liam Neeson films.
“The Accountant 2” is as predictable as overly violent films get. It doesn’t look for the grays in situations and winds up with a sense of completion once the right target is found. When that happens, all seems right in the world — even though little that precedes the situation really makes sense.
No doubt, a third installment is ordered. This will make money but won’t explain a lick about problems politicians say are rampant.
It is, you might say, what it is.
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