- Date of Release: 25 April 2025
- Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Language: English
- Watch On: Amazon Prime Video
The Accountant 2
Introduction
There is something about partnerships thar make a goal easier. Be it in a team sport or life in general, the camaraderie that two drastically different individuals share, often goes a long way in completing a goal. It isn’t always that you hear the phrase – the journey is better than its destination. The new English film The Accountant 2, a direct sequel to the 2016 film The Accountant follows this philosophy. In its purest sense, The Accountant 2 can best be described as a buddy actioner featuring two onscreen brothers Christian (Ben Affleck) and Braxton (Jon Bernthal). If the first film of the franchise was focused on the origin story of an individual marred by autism, only for it to end on a brotherly dynamic, there is a drastic shift in genre the second time around, despite maintaining the same tonality of a convoluted mystery with its exterior conflict. If this were a cricket match, Christian would be Laxman to Braxton’s Dravid in a test match at Eden Gardens. If this was a comedy film, Christian would be Shyam to Braxton’s Raju in Hera Pheri (2000). But because this is an action film, the stakes are high and so are the dimensions of this drama.
Story & Screenplay
The cold open in The Accountant 2 is enough to hook you into the drama. The setup of a local bar featuring a meeting between Ray King (J K Simmons) and a mysterious assassin Anais (Daniela Pineda) is laced with palpable tension almost as a homage to pulpy action flicks with a similar setting. The conflict is set up immediate – the goal remains to locate a Salvadorean kid based on an old photograph, just before a shootout ensures with Ray being killed. Marybeth (Cynthia Addai-Robins) is brought to identify the body, only for a message to be delivered to her – ‘Find The Accountant’, that kickstarts the straight-forward drama in a complex setting.
The strongest aspect of the drama remains its characterization, which was important to be setup again given the decade old gap between the two films of the franchise. On cue, Christian is showcased to be a loner with his only partner-in-crime being his handler Justine, and his love for numbers that allows him to sniff the money laundering transactions of the biggest firms. With love for numbers is immediately highlighted in his introduction sequence that sees him hack the algorithm of a dating app while unable to crack a ‘date’ with the opposite sex. But one thing about Christian remains his calm demeanor that immediately makes him the ‘brain’ of the buddy partnership. You see him arranging the set of clues for Marybeth while insisting on calling his younger brother, and full time assassin, Braxton. Here, Braxton remains a brawling character himself, just as his introduction sequence portrays him to be. He is intimidating and impulsive, the two important traits ticked in his job requirement of a freelance assassin, making it clear that he is the ‘body’ of the buddy partnership.
The crux of the story remains the bond that Christian and Braxton share with each other. You notice a pseudo-distance, a trait that interferes in their individual approach to the job at hand. There is a sense of bickering that translates into a playful cat and mouse game between the duo within the premises of a pulpy setting that immediates hits home with the dynamics in play. In an alternate world, the duo could have been Ravi (Shashi Kapoor) and Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) from Deewar (1975) or even Sherlock and Watson from Sherlock Holmes. But destiny brings them together at such an unusual cross road in life that each of them are destined to look after each other. Be it at a local club wherein Braxton comes to Christian’s rescue by punching blows to local rowdies, or in another scene wherein Christian returns the favour just before a character is about to shoot the already injured Braxton.
The underlying conflict in the drama paints a far more dark picture of human-trafficking, particularly involving children who are separated from their parents (along with an autism connection between the protagonist and a kid that remains half-baked). In that sense, the pulpiness in the drama doesn’t emotionally sit right with respect to a character that suddenly is shown to transform into a mercenary. This marginally deviates from the core of the film that had a searing messaging buried deep within the confinements of a buddy action comedy. As a result, the drama scores best when the synergy of Christian and Braxton lights up the finale sequence but falls a little short of greatness in the aftermath of the incident. For me, the drama didn’t exactly end with a bang, although the format would allow for future installments to take shape, particularly shifting bases more towards the buddy action comedy zone from this point. Yet overall, the screenplay does make for a good watch that amounts to a lot of fun!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
One drastic difference between the two films of the franchise has got to be the inclusion of comedy in the latest installment. And the difference lay in the lines that were dealing with an intense drama at the heart of it, but often shown to be breaking the grammer through bouts of comedy. This integration also remained a solid building block for the relationship between Christian and Braxton, something that defined the film too. The BGM is stimulating in many ways while accounting for the complexity in the setting, but it doesn’t overpower the drama at any given point of time, allowing it to flow organically. The cinematography comprises of frames that tonally sprout from the same offshoot of the original film, with shades of grey often accompanying the narrative. This rightfully doesn’t allow the viewers to be carried away by the comedic elements in the drama, often acting as a reminder on underlying higher stakes in the narrative. The editing is quite sharp despite marginally lagging in the second act. Probably a crisper edit could have ensured a tauter watch. Director Gavin O’Connor absorbs the tone of the first film while incorporating a buddy angle to the proceedings that adds a fresh touch to the film. Suddenly, the lighter moments in the narrative sprout out really well while weirdly complimenting the tone of the drama. The win for the director remained the characterization and the dynamics between characters that simply hit home. The direction is pretty impressive here.
Performances
The performances are pretty good by the members of the cast. J K Simmons as Ray King is superb in a cameo and he makes his presence felt despite a limited screentime. Daniella Pineda as Anais is intimidating and manages to flex a muscle in multiple combat sequences in which she excels. Cynthia Addai-Robins as Marybeth delivers an understated and dignified performance while having several moments to shine. Jon Bernthal as Braxton is a complex character, tough on the exterior but palpably vulnerable within. You see how difficult it is to express his affection for his brother, almost undermining his outward persona. And in that regard, Jon delivers a solid performance here. Ben Affleck has got to be one of the more underrated actors doing the rounds because his performances are generally pretty solid. Here as Christian, he masters his stoic body language and expressions that are important traits of his character. The dry humour is perfectly exploited through his dialogue delivery while suffering from the same phenomena as his brother of being ‘unable to express his feelings’ (in a scene of confrontation, Braxton says how Christian hasn’t even thanked him enough). Ben delivers a sincere and an earnest act that absolutely hits home with his demeanor.
Conclusion
The Accountant 2 is a cerebral buddy actioner with streaks of comedy packaged in a winner of a sequel that ‘accounts’ for a solid watch. Available on Amazon Prime.