'The Accountant' Movie Review

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   The Accountant is directed by Gavin O’Connor, and it stars Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, and John Lithgow. It tells the story of a man who is incredibly good with numbers and calculations, because of this, he manages the accounting for some of the most dangerous criminals in the world. As the authorities start to close in on him, he attempts to finish his last job. This movie has an all-star cast, but is it actually any good?

   The Accountant features great performances from all of its actors and actresses, but unfortunately, the plot isn’t nearly strong enough to hold the entire thing together. 
   The best thing about this movie, by far, are the performances given. Anna Kendrick and Jon Bernthal both worked really well in their given roles, though their characters were a little flat. J.K. Simmons and John Lithgow both gave fantastic performances, as they usually do, but they weren’t in the film nearly enough to make a difference. Best of all, there was Ben Affleck. His character in the film was an extremely interesting one to watch, and his performance only elevated that character to a new level. 
   Affleck’s character in this film is someone who has been diagnosed with a form of autism, and Affleck portrays the character with class. It adds another layer to his character and really makes the audience curious to see how this character handles the situations presented. There are two sides to this character, the socially awkward mathematician, and the sharpshooting badass. Affleck portrays both sides magnificently and there were times where I legitimately wondered if they were the same character. 
   Despite the interesting main character and the great performances across the board, the plot of this film fails to hold it all up. It’s not that there isn’t a plot; it is the fact that the plot is so thin and hard to follow that there might as well not be one. You would think in a movie about a guy that works for criminals around the word, you would see these crazy international gangsters. Nope. The film focuses on a domestic issue involving a robotics company. That’s about all I can say about the plot; not because I’m afraid of spoiling it, but because that is literally all I remember about it. If you were to ask me how the film concluded, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. There is a twist that I won’t spoil, but then when the film actually comes to a close I cannot for the life of me remember what happened.
   The film tells you about Ben Affleck’s character through a series of flashbacks to his childhood. These did not work and just kept consistently interrupting the flow of the film. The material learned in these flashbacks could have easily been told in a linear plot, but apparently they just really wanted to use flashbacks. There was only one thing that the flashbacks actually somewhat helped with and that is the “twist” that I won’t spoil. 
   Overall, the best parts about The Accountant were the performances given and Affleck’s character. Everybody in this film gave it their all when it came to their performances, and Affleck’s character was one that the audience couldn’t help but be intrigued with. Had the plot of this film made much more sense at all, you would be hearing massive critical acclaim for the film. Unfortunately, the storytelling dropped the ball, and the entire film suffered for it. 
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6.5/10

​   What did you think of The Accountant? Did you understand what was going on? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter, it really helps! Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!

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