The Accountant

Films about quirky, fidgety, problematic people are great fodder for a meaty storyline which is why Hollywood has concentrated so much to convey these characters to the screen. No matter whether the film is based on an actual person or fictional, people are intrigued which this concept which is why "The Accountant" is in the offing.

Being a high-functioning autistic, Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a math savant with more affinity with numbers than people. Behind the cover up a small town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department's Crime Enforcement Division headed up by Ray King (J.K. Simmons) and his associate, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company headed up by Lamar Black (John Lithgow) where an accounting clerk, Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian uncooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise.

Others to round out the cast are Jon Bernthal as Brax, Jeffrey Tambor as Francis Silverberg, Jean Smart as Rita Blackburn, Andy Umberger as Ed Chilton, Alison Wright as Justine, Jason Davis as Neurologist, Robert C. Treveiler as Young Chris's Father, Mary Kraft as Young Chris's Mother and Jake Presley as Little Brother.

This was directed with an eeriness within its characters by Gavin O'Connor ("Comfortably Numb" '95, "Tumbleweeds" '99, "Miracle" '04, "Pride and Glory" '08, "Warrior" '11, "Jane Got a Gun" '16) plus TV and TV movies. I say eerie because the character of Christian, although is autistic, still comes across as someone with severe OCD issues which is conveyed to its audience in a way that comes across as a problematic individual, but in which he has no control over his condition. It was sharply written by Jim Dubuque ("The Judge" '14, "The Headhunter's Calling" '16) plus TV. As O'Connor was aptly able to convey the actions of how Christian was able to live and conduct his life, Dubuque was able to write a screenplay depicting these strange and somewhat eerie characteristics that was played out in the storyline. This writer in not a seasoned writer, hence his resume, however he definitely has written interesting work as has potential of becoming a great writer. This had a few slow areas in script and as the script evolved, there were a couple of small areas of lack of continuity. But even with this to take in, it was still an intriguing storyline which has a couple of surprises along the way. This screenwriter is definitely someone to contend with as he builds his body of work.

Affleck definitely gives a stunning performance of this autistic savant in the most interestingly of ways. This is not the same type of character as in "Rain Man". These two films are like 'apples and oranges'. So not only will you be entertained by the suspense of the film, but also of the character study of this very complex, disturbed, autistic man as well, with a vengeance of completing his job to the utmost degree.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                 Rated: R                                  128mins.