The Accountant 2
After the Treasury Department’s retired Crime Enforcement Division Director Ray King (J.K. Simmons, "The Accountant") is murdered in a fleeing crowd after a mysterious meeting with a hit woman known as Anaïs (Daniella Pineda, "Jurassic World: Dominion") he'd oddly engaged to reunite a family from El Salvador, his bereft successor Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson, "The Accountant") is called to the morgue to identify his body. Ray was smart enough to realize his life was in danger and left her a message scribbled on his arm to 'find the accountant,' but when she does, the straight-shooter is both impressed by how quickly the autistic Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) connects a lot of dots and alarmed by his illegal methods in "The Accountant 2."
Laura's Review: B
Director Gavin O'Connor ("The Accountant," "The Way Back"), writer Bill Dubuque ("The Judge," "The Accountant") and a lot of the cast members from "The Accountant" return with a twisty mystery almost grabbed from the headlines with its tale of sex-trafficking Salvadoran MS-13 gang members operating in the U.S. But the real emphasis of the film is the comedic reunion and strengthening relationship between the brothers, Chris and Braxton (Jon Bernthal), who haven't spoken since the events of the first film eight years prior. It helps a lot here if you've seen "The Accountant," as the filmmakers do little to introduce new audience members to its characters' pasts, most notably the trauma the brothers experienced when, abandoned by their mother, they were given harsh militaristic survival training by their father, Chris now fighting for justice, albeit outside of lawful confines, while Braxton became a straight out hit man.
Marybeth located the photograph Ray had shown to Anaïs at the crime scene, a picture of Edith and Gino Sanchez and their missing son Alberto (Yael Ocasio, "Guardian of the Galaxy: Vol. 3's" Star Child), but the identify of that woman is proving a tougher nut to crack. Having located Chris via the circuitous route he'd set up, she is both astonished and appalled when he manages to get a picture of the woman's face by engaging Justine (voice of Allison Wright, the non-verbal woman unseen in the first film, now portrayed by Allison Robertson), who we now see is one of many expert autistic hackers at Harbor Neuroscience Academy, who illegally gets into a selfie-taker's home network and retrieves the photograph she took with the woman in the background. And yet even with both the government's and Neuroscience's technology, they still cannot confirm the woman's identify.
Overnight, Chris manages to analyze the evidence wall Marybeth had set up with what she found in Ray's rented house and begins to trace the trail with the owner of a pizza factory Edith once worked at. He'll also call in his brother and when the two kidnap a bad guy to get him to talk, and Braxton hints he's responsible for a couple of the hits on Ray's evidence wall, Marybeth disassociated herself from them, leaving them to work out their issues as Chris continues to focus on the missing child.
The film is at its most enjoyable watching Chris' attempt to get in touch with his emotions, clearly now desiring 'someone to come home to.' The film opens with him in his airstream trailer, advised by Justine, dressing for a speed date encounter which goes comically sideways. Braxton's anger at Chris for not following through on keeping in touch is smoothed over, the brothers bonding over obnoxious pranks and a trip to a cowboy bar where Chris responds to a flirtatious woman by joining a line dance. And they'll join forces to head to Mexico to save the jailed children of trafficked women, mastermind Burke (Robert Morgan) having ordered his own hit man Cobb (Grant Harvey) to dispose of them. An interesting twist involving acquired savant syndrome will lead to a satisfying payback.
While a lot of this stretches credulity, the film delivers both comedy and action, Affleck and Bernthal a great buddy movie team, Bernthal, in particular, appearing to have a blast. Affleck's depiction of autism is a little less convincing this time around, perhaps due to the film's more comedic slant. The new revelation of his autistic hacker group looks like a gambit for future installments, a kind of nerdy, shadow "X-Men" fronted by two crime-fighting, vigilante brothers, and, if correct, needs to be handled with care. This time around, though, just suspend disbelief and go along for a crazy ride.
Amazon/MGM releases "The Accountant 2" in theaters on 4/25/25.
