Brief Story Line
Eight years after the events of the first movie, Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck - Hypnotic, The Last Duel etc) was still working as the Accountant and providing various advices for the underworld while trying to be as normal as he could be. But when he was approached by Deputy Director of Treasury Department, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson - The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series, The People We Hate at the Wedding etc) who was investigating the case that her former boss Raymond King (J. K. Simmons - Juror #2, Red One etc) was personally looking into, Chris decided to help her.
Due to the dangerous nature of the case as it involved a professional assassin called Anais (Daniella Pineda - Plane, Jurassic World Dominion etc), Chris enlisted the help from his estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal - The Amateur, Ford v Ferrari etc) despite Marybeth's disapproval.
So what was actually the reason Ray worked on the case? And why was it so dangerous that involved assassins? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
When this movie started, somehow my wife just realized that it was a sequel and felt she should have re-watched the original before seeing this to better understand. It was actually quite a long time since the original was released in 2016 which made her completely forgotten about it, while I luckily still remembered the characters. Good thing though that even though we could not remember the previous plot, it was not difficult to understand the film as it only referred to the lead characters and their connections, but with entirely different plot and villains.
To my surprise, the film was way more fun than the original as it gave plenty of time for Chris and Brax to have their brotherly bonding which was heartwarming and frankly quite believable. In fact my wife saw their relationship a lot like her young nephews who had similar traits (very serious by-the-books older brother with his naughty playful younger brother). Aside from their relationship, we also saw some funny moments where Chris tried to hard to fit in and had difficulty in grasping the reasons other people act like they did. Obviously though, the movie would not leave nice impression without the actions. This time I thought it was more frequent than its predecessor with an awesomely done finale fight.
The two lead cast Affleck and Bernthal were a joy to see as their chemistry looked genuine. Both of us and lot of audience who filled the studio were laughing and chuckling several times (that moment on top of Chris' "house" was priceless). In addition to those two, Simmons and Addai-Robinson, there was only one other character who appeared from the first movie, i.e. Justine (voiced by Alison Wright - Snowpiercer TV series etc) and portrayed by Allison Robertson. The rest were characters that included hired assassin Cobb (Grant Harvey - The Secret Life of the American Teenager TV series etc) and his boss Burke (Robert Morgan - Hacksaw Ridge etc). Btw the sequel was still directed by Gavin O'Connor (The Way Back, Jane Got a Gun etc) and written by Bill Dubuque, writer of the original and co-creator of the critically hit Ozark series.
For an action thriller movie, this one was not only relying on the action which was well executed and supported by wonderful sound system in the studio, but also on the nicely told story and pretty interesting plot. The way Chris managed to identify the pattern from a seemingly disarrayed pictures and clues were wonderful. My wife and I also admired the children of Harbor Neuroscience and when they worked their magic, we were just in awe. Before I forgot, the movie had pretty long duration of 132 minutes including closing credits. There was no mid or post end credit scene, but the ending seemed open for another sequel if they chose to do so (which I am hoping it would be a reality).
Overall this was an entertaining film for me and my wife. We love the relationship between Chris and Brax and I think there are still things that could be explored (like Brax's organization), plus the lighter tone compared to the serious and dark feel of the original. It's quite easy to enjoy the movie without seeing the original. However in case you are curious or want to remember the story, The Accountant is available on Prime Video. So if you are interested in such action thriller with unorthodox kind of protagonist (Accountant with savant syndrome who could effectively kill people) and his killer-for-hire brother, then you would certainly enjoy this movie. But if you prefer full action film with little or no character developments, then it's probably not your forte. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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