Title – The Accountant 2 (2025)
Director – Gavin O’Connor (Warrior)
Cast – Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J.K. Simmons
Plot – Gifted accountant/combatant Christian Wolff (Affleck) must team up with government official Marybeth Medina (Addai-Robinson) and his hitman brother Braxton (Bernthal) to help unlock the secrets of a mysterious missing persons case that has turned deadly.
“Do you like puzzles?”
Review by Eddie on 29/04/2025
While it was far from a world beater, 2016’s surprise breakout hit The Accountant was a good simple action/thriller with a nice little unique twist on the stereotypical lead at the heart of those type of films with director Gavin O’Connor and his star Ben Affleck bringing the story of brilliant minded mob accountant/one man army Christian Wolff to life in a fun and playful way.
Arriving almost a decade on from the first film, the boys are back in town with Wolff and his brother Braxton joining forces to help uncover the mystery behind a murder and a missing person case that becomes anything but a straight forward narrative.
Budgeted at a reported $80+ million dollars, The Accountant 2 arrives with more pressure to perform this time around with the gimmick of Affleck’s character and the world in which he operates in (one that almost appears to be the equivalent of a real life Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters) no longer as surprising and unexpected and while O’Connor made the right decision to allow his co-leads more time in the spotlight together, one can’t help but feel as though Accountant 2’s insanely over the top and convoluted story isn’t what the doctor ordered.
Starting out with a fairly frantic opening sequence that features a cameo from the first films J.K Simmons as Ray King, across this sequels two hour running time we are thrown into a world of Mexican prisons, puppy adoption, failed dating events, superhuman assassins, people smuggling fishmongers, devious pizza empires and line dancing amongst other things with Accountant 2 failing to really make its mark in the action stakes or mystery stakes with most of the films goodwill and fun had purely from the banter and comradery between Affleck and Bernthal.
Giving the fans what they want after limited screen time alongside one another in the first outing, Affleck and Bernthal clearly enjoy sharing the spotlight with each other and with the film taking on a surprisingly lighter tone around all the murder, mayhem and mystery, the two talented performers relish the chance to work off one another and had the film managed to give them a better story to partake in other than the oddly bizarre one their thrown into here, Accountant 2 may have even outdone the original.
No one ever watches films of the ilk of Accountant 2 for balanced or nuanced storytelling that feels overly believable but even compared with the over the top first feature, Accountant 2 almost feels like a science fiction experience, such is the suspension of disbelief required this time around and it’s hard for the film to recover from that fact when so much of it feels pedestrian and paint by numbers, disallowing this long-gestating sequel from becoming a break out hit.
There’s still something intriguing about the character of Wolff and the broader universe he operates in and there’s lots of fuel on the fire when Affleck and Bernthal are given the keys to the kingdom but overall you can’t help escape the feeling that Accountant 2 is a backwards step from the fun original and begs the question of whether more puzzle solving and murder is going to be a good thing?
Final Say –
Losing some of its charm and surprise that existed in the first film, The Accountant 2 is weighed down by a terrible central plot and an unnecessarily complex set of situations but whenever Affleck and Bernthal take centre stage there’s still fun to be had from this crowd-pleasing outing.
2 1/2 sunscreen tubes out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys) 
I didn’t want to read your review until after I’d seen The Accountant 2. I rewatched the first one a couple nights ago to refresh my memory about Ben Affleck’s performance and after watching the sequel yesterday, I appreciate the way you point out the film’s shortcomings. I really, really liked the experience of watching it, and I know that if I were to think more critically, I’d scratch my head a bit at how sometimes I felt like I was watching a TV show, and other times, a deconstructed burrito with hints of Sicario, The Driver, and The Equalizer.
In addition to the scene with Jon Bernthal in underwear and rehearsing a phone call to Margaret, I can’t stop thinking about that other scene with a phone call and ice cream. I liked being able to observe the woman’s body language and expression and know that she’s sitting at that table by force. She probably had to watch him help himself to whatever was in their fridge and freezer too. And he’s eating out of the pint of ice cream like it’s Chinese takeout. It’s kinda hard to explain, but just about every time I see someone eating out of a Chinese to-go-box (the white kinda that can be broken down to become a plate), the same sounds and gestures are used to scoop up the rice, noodles, or sweet and sour chicken.
I wanna see it again just for those two scenes.
I really enjoyed the first film, flaws and all, the second I don’t think I could watch ever again. I am unsure if there would be room to do a third now.
E
Hehehe. I watched it again today and really focused on those two scenes with the briefs and the ice cream. I hadn’t noticed that Jon Bernthal wore some long socks in the first scene — they were almost up to his knees. The second scene takes place primarily against ceiling-to-floor windows. I kept trying to see if there’d be a reflection of the rest of the room for additional hints as to what he’s doing there, but there wasn’t any.
The second viewing bolsters my belief that the first film is overall the better film (pacing, plot, characterizations). Every time the director of Fincent was on screen sans Ben Affleck, I thought I could be watching a TV show… like another Dick Wolf series and focused on how money laundering or underreporting leads to breaking some case wide open.
I noticed that Jon Bernthal was also eating from a jar of peanut butter when he was looking at the wall of pictures while the students at the Harbor Academy were doing their thing via videoconference. And his shirt said “Waylon Jennings” — looked him up and according to his wiki page, “was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in country music.”
When I get the sequel on DVD, it’ll mostly be to rewatch the aforementioned scenes many times.