The intelligent financial expose has become big business in its own right with the success of The Wolf Of Wall Street, The Big Short and War Dogs and the new kid on the fiddled ledger sheet block is The Accountant. Starring Ben Affleck (Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice) and focusing on the darker side of the forensic accounting spectrum, the big difference between it and the other movies is that this will be a bit more rogue, with no specific real-life story to hang it’s hat on.
With that in its arsenal, it will also be veering off in action thriller directions as the worlds of crime and the accountants that cook the books cross over with Schwarzenegger side-effects. While that takes a little of the expose edge away from the film, it does still provide a little hint at why minimum security prisons have a steady supply of accountants passing through their doors.
Release date
The Accountant will be arriving on the big screen in the UK on Friday the 4th November 2016, putting it up against The Light Between Oceans, on what looks like a fairly slow week for movies. The UK release date is a little later than the US distribution, which will be going out on the 14th October 2016. It’s a relatively short film with just 90-minutes run time.
Story
Maths savant, Christian Wolff (Affleck), puts his head for numbers to bad use by becoming the accountant for international criminal operations. As you’d expect, things start to get pretty complicated for him when an investigation by the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division starts to get close to having the evidence it needs to haul him in.
In a seemingly logical bid to shake the fuzz, he takes on a local squeaky-clean client, but his ironic comeuppance returns to haunt him when the company turns out to have its own dark heart.
Cast
Ben Affleck is joined in the cast for The Accountant by J.K. Simmons (Zootropolis), who stars as Ray King, the head of the Crime Enforcement Division hot on Christian’s tail. Anna Kendrick (Life After Beth) plays the female lead, an accounting clerk at the legitimate robotics company Christian takes on, who discovers the discrepancy in the books that leads to so much trouble.
The cast also includes Jon Berthnell, who was pretty impressive in Daredevil Series 2; Jean Smart (Youth In Revolt), Cynthia Adai-Robinson (Star Trek: Into Darkness), Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) and the acting might of John Lithgow (Interstellar).
Production
The action thriller has been directed by Gavin O’Connor (Jane Got A Gun) with the story and screenplay written by Bill Dubuque (The Judge). Seamus McGarvey is the director of photography, Kieth Cunningham is the production designer, Richard Pearson the editor and Mark Isham has composed the score. The film was produced by Mark Williams and Lynette Howell, and O’Connor, Jamie Patricof and Marty Ewing are the executive producers.
The British Board of Film Classification has rated the film 15.
First impressions
Check out the trailer for The Accountant (2016) for yourself below, but we’re a bit split on the prospect of the film. Ben Affleck has done a good job of the leading role in other thrillers like Gone Girl and Argo, and he wasn’t a shocker in Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, so this could be a strong entry to add to the list. However, it’s already looking like there may be a few holes in the delivery with little of the social interaction difficulties coming through and a Rambo-like focus on big gun action.
The rest of the cast looks fairly strong and the trailer looks like there’s going to be a building intensity to the film, so hopefully it’s got some surprises in store. Right now it’s looking like a decent film with a couple of hang ups, but if it can deliver something unexpected in the final third then it could pick up some positive reviews.
