'The Accountant 2' Review - More Death, Fewer Taxes

The more straightforward sequel works on its own terms, even if I missed some of the less-conventional characterizations and plotting of its admittedly flawed predecessor.

The Accountant 2 (2025)
132 minutes
rated R for “strong violence, and language throughout.”
Directed by Gavin O’Connor
Written by Bill Dubuque
Starring - Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson
Daniella Pineda, Allison Robertson, J. K. Simmons
Cinematography by Seamus McGarvey
Editing by Richard Pearson
Music by Bryce Dessner
Production Companies - Artists Equity, 51 Entertainment
Zero Gravity Management, Filmtribe
Distributed by Amazon MGM (domestic) and Warner Bros. Discovery (overseas)
Opening theatrically the week of April 25

By October 2016, the idea of an R-rated, star-driven high-concept original actioner like The Accountant pulling its commercial weight ($155 million worldwide on a $44 million budget) had already become noteworthy. Remember, this was nearly a year into the “Egad, the bottom has fallen out for non-event, non-franchise studio programmers!” That it’s now being packaged and presented as a franchise is a little disheartening. That’s especially true for this sequel that only went to theaters as (presumably/arguably) a gesture of goodwill toward Ben Affleck and his Artists Equity banner.

The Accountant 2 thus arrives in theaters on April 25, 7.5 years later, courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios, trying to position its title protagonist as a retroactive marquee character. I was not huge on Gavin O’Connor and Bill Dubuque’s The Accountant upon an initial theatrical viewing. A casual rewatch last year reaffirmed what works about it (the zig-zag structure, the committed performances from a game cast) and what doesn’t (the entire third act is spent explaining the first two needlessly cryptic acts).

This one is a more conventionally plotted and perhaps more overtly crowdpleasing. However, fair or not, the more accessible structure comes at a cost in terms of the original film’s flawed but noteworthy existence.

We get the classic sequel set-up in which one key supporting character from the first film (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) has to track down our antihero (Ben Affleck) after another key supporting character (J.K. Simmons) goes down in a hail of bullets. Addai Robinson’s Treasury Agent was our audience surrogate the last time, as much of the initial film kept Affleck’s mob accountant/autistic savant/glorified supersoldier at a comparative remove. This time out, the filmmakers assume you’ve seen the first film or can catch up, and this is a more conventional “righteous revenger man” action flick with none of the moral greyness that spiced up its predecessor.

That includes an ill-timed plot that positions American heroes as would-be saviors to imperiled, trafficked Central American refugees. It is yet another very recent cinematic example of how (at least for now) the most basic “good versus evil” and “cause and effect” narrative tropes will feel like aspirational fantasy.

Beyond the cut-and-dry storytelling (the one far-fetched plot point is somewhat medically sound), what sticks out most is how little Christian Wolff’s skills as a professional accountant or even a math genius matter to the journey. Save for one first-act sequence where he uses on-the-fly math magic to correctly discover money laundering, Christian is a conventional “justice > laws” run-and-gun vigilante who’s also the kind of autistic most familiar to moviegoers.

That’s not a criticism, as Affleck is engaging in a performance that feels authentic and doesn’t treat his condition as a tourist attraction. Jon Bernthal returns as Christian’s brother, who happens to be a well-paid assassin, and his increased screentime gives The Accountant 2 juice as an unconventional buddy comedy/brotherly bonding actioner. Considering Braxton’s anger and angst at his brother not making good on his promise - amid the first film’s epilogue - to stay in touch, Before Sunset comes to mind.

The Accountant 2 is a halfway decent sequel to a relatively unconventional and initially interesting one-and-done programmer. That it’s more straightforward and conventionally entertaining comes at the cost of some of what made its predecessor intriguing. Beyond a few brief “remind the audience what Christian can do” first-act sequences and a mid-film setpiece showcasing a class of on-the-spectrum tech wizard kids using their talents to (terrifyingly) unearth a piece of evidence, there’s not much to differentiate this one from the pack.

That includes a shoot-em-up finale that even my 17-year-old (who, for what it’s worth, has Asperger’s) felt was generically ho-hum. Heck, even the mid-film showcase A) concerns information that ends up irrelevant or redundant, and B) feels like a backdoor pilot for a Prime Video television spin-off. The Accountant 2 succeeds in being aggressively fine. Whether that’s better or worse than The Accountant’s “ambitious near-miss” is up to you.