‘The Accountant 2’ Review: Chemistry Between Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal Carries an Entertaining but Convoluted Sequel

In The Accountant, Christian Wolff, the autistic tax professional played by Ben Affleck, lamented not spending more time in his airstream trailer. At the time, Christian housed the sleek vehicle, retrofitted with a glossy wood interior, in a warehouse, which he only occasionally visited to monitor his cash reserve and admire his art collection. The events of The Accountant resulted in Christian getting his wish. After taking down a conniving businessman and reuniting with his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal), the reclusive CPA absconds from Illinois and sets out on the open road.

When we reunite with Christian in The Accountant 2, he’s living in Idaho and searching for love. An early sequence establishes the tone of Gavin O’Connor’s highly-anticipated sequel: We see Christian self-consciously trying on different suits for a speed dating event before a blunt cut (editing by Richard Pearson) brings us to a conference room, where women eagerly line up to court our handsome forensic accountant. Veering from the earnest sentimentality of its action-thriller predecessor, O’Connor’s leans into a more comedic register.

Premiering at SXSW before its theatrical release on April 25, The Accountant 2 delivers as far as sequels without any real purpose go. O’Connor reunites with screenwriter Bill Dubuque (Ozark, The Accountant) to expand on Christian’s wild universe of money laundering and hired assassins. Whereas The Accountant made well-intentioned but clumsy attempts to explore the life of a high-functioning autistic man, The Accountant 2 focuses on the relationship between Christian and his brother Brax, two characters fans have come to love. This is a fraternal buddy comedy dressed up as an intricate (read: convoluted), nail-biting thriller.

Bernthal and Affleck reprise their roles as the estranged siblings whose traumatic childhood somehow led them into adjacent lines of business. Their performances embrace O’Connor’s comic direction without losing the narrative’s emotional core, and the pair’s chemistry strengthens The Accountant 2 by distracting us from the implausible details of its overly complex central mystery. 

The Accountant 2 opens with the murder of Ray King (J.K. Simmons), who, since retiring from his job as Treasury Director, moonlit as a private detective. Before he died, the former civil servant was working on a secret case involving a Salvadoran family who migrated to the United States. His final meeting took place in a grungy Los Angeles bar with a curious stranger he calls Anaïs (Daniella Pineda). The reasons that King accepted this job are vaguely addressed, but ultimately don’t withstand any serious analytical pressure.

When the police call King’s professional heir Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), she’s not sure how to connect the dots. A final message from King instructs the by-the-books director to find Christian Wolff. Marybeth, still uncomfortable with the arrangement between her department and the felonious accountant, does so reluctantly. 

An early review of the case by Christian and Marybeth reveals that King’s work was a small fraction of a broader conspiracy that involves people desperate to remain unknown. In need of back-up, Christian phones Brax. The siblings haven’t talked since Christian told his younger brother that he would reach out at the end of The Accountant. He never did, leaving the wounds of their fractured relationship unattended.

Still, Brax flies from Berlin to Los Angeles and partners with Christian to figure out who wanted King dead. Christian, Marybeth and Brax’s investigation lead them into the seedy underbelly of L.A., where they encounter a world that exploits and profits off the desperation of undocumented people.

The puzzle at the center of The Accountant 2 matters insofar as the film needs a narrative propellant. But Bernthal and Affleck are the real draw, and O’Connor knows this. He uses any opportunity to get the brothers talking, and follows each major development in the fictional case with a moment of brotherly bonding.

Christian and Brax, estranged for nearly a decade for reasons that still aren’t entirely clear, find their way back to one another through a series of charming encounters. They share beers on the roof of the airstream, line dance at a local bar and reflect on the past while setting up traps for their enemies. These are the brightest scenes in The Accountant 2 because of Affleck and Bernthal’s easy chemistry and both actors’ abilities to root the seemingly surface-level arguments in their characters’ psychic traumas. The Accountant 2 might present a more jovial tone, but its universe is built on pretty dark themes. 

A familiarity with Christian’s character in The Accountant makes his development in the sequel more satisfying to watch. Although the portrayal of a high-functioning autistic person can still feel clumsy, and at times disappointingly cartoonish, Christian celebrates his difference even more in The Accountant 2. This is underscored by an exaggerated but wholesome thread about how Justine (Alison Wright), Christian’s partner who has nonverbal autism, and Christian involve the students at the well-funded Harbor Neuroscience Academy. It’s all very Bruce Wayne-meets-Professor X. Christian’s also committed to bettering his relationships with people — taking social risks that he previously might have avoided. 

It’s a shame that Brax isn’t afforded an equally strong arc. While Bernthal proves himself to be a scene-stealer, Brax occasionally verges on being one-note. Part of this can be attributed to the intricacy of O’Connor and Dubuque’s twisty screenplay. The connecting web of relationships, motives and money can be dizzying, especially with the freewheeling geographic and temporal jumps, and the middle of The Accountant 2 meanders.

For the most part though, O’Connor’s direction is disciplined. He wrings humor from nearly every moment by staging action scenes as blunt as Christian’s commentary and employing transitions as precise as the accountant’s aim. And while this critic would have welcomed more restraint in the violence, which can have an inuring effect, fans of the first film will find plenty to admire and root for in this entertaining fraternal union.