The Accountant 2 (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

THE ACCOUNTANT 2 (2025)

Starring Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, JK Simmons, Allison Robertson, Robert Morgan, Grant Harvey, Andrew Howard, Yael Ocasio, Lombardo Boyar, Michael Tourek, Fernando Funan Chien, Abner Lozano, Talia Thiesfield, Presley Alexander, Nik Sanchez, Corwin Ireland, Avery Taylor and the voice of Alison Wright.

Screenplay by Bill Dubuque.

Directed by Gavin O'Connor.

Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 132 minutes. Rated R.

The Accountant was a surprisingly good and thoughtful action film when it was released in 2016. It starred Ben Affleck as an autistic math savant who had become a legendary but mysterious mob bookkeeper – who might just have a sideline as a hit man. Affleck’s accountant took a job figuring out the books of a huge corporation. Eventually he decides to protect the whistleblower (Anna Kendrick) who pointed out the accounting irregularities when a contract is taken out on her life. To everyone’s surprise, the hit man turns out to be the accountant’s estranged brother (Jon Bernthal).

In the meantime, they were being examined by two investigators from the Department of Commerce (JK Simmons and Cynthia Addai-Robinson) who were putting together the clues and following the bodies to figure out who the accountant really was.

It was one of the better action films of that year. However, it didn’t do all that great in the box office and seemed to disappear from public consciousness. However, it seems that somewhere along the line the film got a bit of a cult following through streaming and cable. Now, suddenly, almost nine years after the original film, comes a sequel that no one really expected, but maybe we needed.

Much of the main original cast returns, although JK Simmons’ character is killed off early on, and Anna Kendrick’s character is not at all a part of this new story. (Interestingly, next week Kendrick will be starring in yet another similarly long-delayed unexpected film sequel, also made by Amazon/MGM, with Another Simple Favor.)

The story picks up eight years after the action of the first film. Former FinCEN leader Ray King (JK Simmons), who has now become a private investigator, is killed while in the middle of a mysterious meeting with a killer named Anais (Daniella Pineda). As he is dying, King leaves a message on his body for Marybeth (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), his former agent who has now taken over the department. It simply reads “Find the accountant.”

The accountant has pretty much gone off the grid again, but Marybeth sends a message into the ether and is surprised that the Accountant comes to find her. He had befriended King in the end of the first film, so he agrees to help to avenge his murder and find the mysterious woman Ray was with when it happened. He reaches out to his brother – the first time they have talked since encountering each other all those years later – and brother Brax (Bernthal) joins the team to find out what happened.

This leads them into a deep mystery revolving around a Mexican cartel and some kidnapped refugee children.

The Accountant 2 is much more blatantly comical than the first one (which had its share of humor, too). Much of the comedy stems from the strained relationship of the two underworld brothers, while other parts arise when the by-the-book federal agent has to deal with the more grey-area tactics of her new partners.

Let’s face it, the weird relationship between the two brothers is the most intriguing part of the film – in fact for prolonged periods the film strays from the storyline just to give the two time to share character-driven spats. (Like, who would have thought cold-blooded killer Brax would have a soft spot for cats?) Affleck and Bernthal bounce off of each other with good humor and wonderful comic chemistry.

The actual crime plot is significantly less interesting and much more standard fare. But every time the film threatens to become a bit cliché, it bounces off to a weird interaction between the brothers and suddenly The Accountant 2 is paying off good dividends again.

I don’t know if the world necessarily needs a whole franchise of this stuff – although the climax sort of hinted at the storyline continuing in future installments. However, I’m surprised how happy I am to have had another appointment with The Accountant.

Jay S. Jacobs