This movie has some strong action scenes as well as some entertaining non action scenes between a lot of slow & cold drama – not dissimilar to most Batman movies – a role which Ben Affleck took over in 2016.
The fight scenes have a lot of flashing light & dark to disguise the lack of real martial arts skill on display – not recommend for those suffering from epilepsy. Good music accompanies much of the action in this movie.
The first half hour is mostly boring plot-building, then the movie warms up considerably when Jennifer Garner‘s character (Elektra) is introduced.
Supporting cast includes Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin – he’s a great fit for the role; Colin Farrell as Bullseye – a hired-help baddie – he also does a great job here; and Coolio who adequately plays someone wrongly accused of a crime, who Ben Affleck‘s character defends (no matter how much it costs him). Jon Favreau also does well as the main character’s partner at their own law firm.
The Accountant is a cool movie to watch for the first time, especially for anyone interested in how Asperger Syndrome (and Savant Syndrome) can affect the performance of a martial artist. Many movies have portrayed a slick, meticulously accurate assassin but few go so far as to portray such a well rounded account of autism by the lead character – this movie is like a cross between Hitman and Rain Man.
In terms of martial arts moves, there’s nothing flashy here. There’s a lot of quick-kill gun shooting and a bit of empty-handed combat of a similar nature. There’s no classical exotic moves but there is a good representation of the spirit of a ninja, you could say.
Casting wasn’t bad – there are multiple strong performances in this movie, including by Jon Bernthal (Marvel’s ‘The Punisher’) and above all the lead role by Ben Affleck.
There are times where production has shined by taking well-researched notions and strong creative ideas then doing them justice on screen, especially where traits of Higher Functioning Autism could manifest themselves in the life of a careful assassin.
The genre is a bit James Bond without the humour – it’s callous from start to finish but only faintly gritty and containing enough James Bond style features to make the movie very watchable by fans of that genre. It has a bit of a simplistic drawn-out ending which makes rewatching it less fun than it otherwise would be – perhaps the writers became complacent after a decent beginning and middle, or the producers ran out of budget to wrap things up in style, or they preferred to linger in the grittier drama genre that the movie exposed us to throughout, even though the bulk of the movie appeals to the opposite audience. There are probably certain people who love both genres, but for a fan of high budget action who steers clear of gritty drama, I would rate this movie an 8 for first-time viewing and slightly lower for rewatchings. Still, it had so much potential and such great good parts (demonstrated perfectly by the trailer) that it could have easily been rated higher with a bit more work, although that would probably have been to the dissatisfaction of gritty drama lovers – perhaps you can’t please everyone and trying to do so may have been the reason why this movie never achieved the heights it was knocking on the door for. Still, a good watch.
