The Accountant 2 is, predictably, the sequel to the original movie The Accountant from 2016. The original didn’t do huge box office numbers, but it was a reasonably solid action movie and caught an audience after it went to cable and streaming, and the sequel is roughly along the same lines.
The Accountant 2 follows several years after the first movie. Retired treasury agent Ray King (J.K. Simmons) is gunned down after meeting with a shadowy assassin, leaving behind a single clue to what happened. This clue points his successor, Dep Director Marybeth Medina directly to The Accountant. Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is our titular protagonist, a mathematical savant sitting on the autism spectrum, who was trained by his father in a range of combat skills and by a fellow inmate in criminal accounting and money laundering. Medina and Wolff team up to unravel the mystery of King’s death, and when that puzzle predictably widens to include a web of criminal deceit, human trafficking, and murder for hire, Wolff calls in his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) for a little backup. Soon, the brothers find themselves in a race against the clock to identify the mysterious assassin, uncover the criminal enterprise behind King’s death, and thwart the criminal plans of a corrupt human trafficker.
The Accountant 2 is a decent weekend flick, with good action scenes. There are some logic holes and plot devices that require you to just hit the “I believe” button, but overall, the movie flows well, the buddy/odd couple scenes between the brothers are good, and the ride keeps you engaged. It’s reasonably well shot and looks and feels like a real Hollywood movie, rather than streaming content. Both lead actors do a decent job. As I mentioned, there are some action movie reveals and scenes that are a little silly if you don’t just suspend disbelief, but those are easy to gloss over and just enjoy the high paced action with a little humor thrown in. This sequel has slightly less of the “math savant” beats to it than the original, but tries to capture that theme with a series of hacking and surveillance analysis scenes that hit similar concepts, though probably not as well.
Overall, The Accountant 2 is a good sequel that delivers on the same kinds of beats and feel as the original movie. There’s a lot of violence and cursing, not much sex or drugs. If you liked the first movie, or if you’re looking for a decent popcorn action movie, this might be a good one for you.