A person is born with a form of autism. People view that person as special and at times, odd. To put it bluntly, that autistic person is a freak who isn’t like everybody else. Though as the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover.
Ben Affleck plays a man named Christian Wolff in the drama crime film The Accountant. Christian is born with a high-functioning form of autism that makes him superb with numbers. That and he can become an excellent killing machine. Chris can take out a group of mafia members using their weapons against them, and he can process 15 years’ worth of corporate account ledgers in a single night, without having the need for a computer. Sylvester Dodd, meet your competition.
The overall plot of the film is somewhat confusing to understand. It’s similar to the Jason Bourne franchise but with a slight twist. There’s the authoritative figure tracking the supposed criminal down and the hero/fugitive who turns out to be more hero than fugitive. The Director of Financial Crimes Raymond King(J.K Simmons) at the Treasury Department, wants to arrest Christian for his crimes. He enlists the help of Marybeth Medina (via blackmail). I get that King wants to locate Christian/The Accountant, but he could have just asked Medina for her assistance rather than go down the blackmail route.
Another part of the film that confused me is why would the CEO of Living Robotics, Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow), would want to embezzle money from his own company. That and hire a man named The Assassin, who later turned out to be Christian’s estranged younger brother Braxton, to protect him and kill others who might expose him as the true mastermind. I still don’t understand how Christian was able to find Lamar’s home but he’s the math prodigy. The only thing that made sense was the flashbacks that King had toward the middle of the film as he explains everything to Medina.
The soon to be ex-Director, along with Christian, were present at the Gambino Family mafia shootout. Christian then spared his life after questioning him about being a “good father”. Then someone known only as the Voice contacts King. She provided King with evidence, compiled by Christian, on criminals who violated his moral code(whatever it may be). King then revealed to Medina at Christian’s home that the investigation on Christian was a test. She has been selected to replace King after his retirement as the future contact for the Voice. The nameless female voice turned out to be Justine, the mute daughter of the director of the Harbor Neuroscience Institute.
Christian kills Lamar at the end and reconciles with his brother. I felt a bit sorry for him that he didn’t get to have a relationship with Dana (Anna Kendrick). At least he sent her the Pollock painting, hidden behind the famous dogs playing poker painting.
Overall, the film was an interesting roller coaster ride to say the very least. It was nice to see Jeffery Tambor in the film to serve as Ben Affleck’s friend and mentor. Shame his character got brutally tortured to death. I wouldn’t say that this is a film worthy of an Oscar, but it does shine a light, so to speak, on what the minds of those with special needs can really do.
Photo via Warner Bros. Pictures
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