The Accountant Film

This film was originally labeled in the “Crime-Drama” category, but I would further re-define it into the “Political Thriller” genre, seeing as it’s a U.S. Presidential Election Year. As the story unravels, it’s clearly a political thriller, involving government and high-tech business as motivational reasons.

All actors and actresses performed wonderfully in this film. When I first viewed the UK “Main One” Trailer, it peaked my interest, as I thought it was a story revolving around Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick’s characters. There are also some bigger names in this film (J.K. Simmons, John Lithgow), and the plot is pretty good stuff. All loose ends are wrapped up.

“Christian Wolff is a math savante with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of 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, run by Ray King, starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk 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.” – posted by Happy_Evil_Dude on IMDb

With this, I’m not going to tell you too much more, other than some of the Actors and their roles, and what Plot questions are raised. Which, BTW, I wrote this Review completely before I viewed the film. Based on examining the order of the cast’s appearance, I predicted the movie’s outcome.

Now go pay the Box Office ticket price & support the Film Industry!

Ben Affleck stars as Christian Wolff, listed as the Managing Partner and CPA with ZZZ Accounting, located in a strip mall outside of southern Illinois.

Plot Q’s: how does he affect the Storyline? Does he make to the Ending? If he is killed, then who kills him? Does he kill himself? Why would an Accountant want to start shooting rifles?

Mr. Affleck has appeared in numerous film and television credits, and is listed as #91 on IMDB’s STARmeter.

Anna Kendrick stars as Dana Cummings, a cost accountant with Lightning Robotics, the company that becomes one of Christian’s clients.

Plot Q’s: what’s Dana’s relationship with Christian? How do they meet? How do they become entangled? Does their relationship change throughout the story? Does she make it out alive and have a HEA (Happily Ever After) ending?

Ms. Kendrick has appeared in various films, her most recent appearance in Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates and Pitch Perfect. She is listed as #63 on IMDB’s STARmeter.

Jon Bernthal stars as Brax. That’s all I’m going to tell you.

Plot Q’s: what’s his role in the story? Who is he? How does he affect the story? What’s his vested interest?

He wasn’t seen in the OMT, so this makes me think he’s a Not-So-Good-Guy, or leads Christian into the Bad Guy’s Lair. An unrevealed character. Unknown intentions.

J.K. Simmons stars as Ray King, downplays his title with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Prevention Division.

Plot Q’s: what is Ray’s contribution to the story? Does he unravel any plotlines? Or does he tie them up? In the Trailer, he was seen as one of the Good Guys..., therefore, he must make it to the end. If he dies, then the film would end on an ironic note, rather than a Patriotic note.

Jeffrey Tambor stars as Francis Silverberg, whose character was also not seen in the OMT. Which makes me believe he is either a Not-So-Good-Guy, or he’s integral to a major plotline. Or not!

Plot Q’s: who is Francis? Has anyone seen this man? <a Deadpool joke>

John Lithgow stars as Lamar Blackburn. With a character name like this one, you can’t tell if he’s a Good Guy, or a Bad Guy, or if his loyalties lie somewhere in the middle. Makes me think about Reservoir Dogs, where each member was given a codename (“I don’t wanna be Mr. Pink”).

Plot Q’s: who is Lamar? Is he a consultant, or does he put all the pieces together for both sides?

Having not been seen in the OMT, it’s anyone’s guess what his role will be.

Yes, her character appeared in the UK “Main One” Trailer, so I’m guessing she’s one of the Good Guys. She plays Marybeth Medina, a colleague of Ray King’s. Her character’s background is dramatized, because in actuality, she never would have been hired by the U.S. government, because of her criminal underage background.

Plot Q’s: where does her loyalty lie? How does she affect the story? With this premise, she also must make it to end, along with Ray, because Justice must be served. After all, she’s with the U.S. Treasury Department!

Jean Smart plays Rita Blackburn, a relative of Lamar Blackburn. That’s all I’m going to tell you.

Her character was not seen in the OMT. So, no telling what her role will be…

Alison Wright plays Justine, whose character is revealed in the Finale.

Her character didn’t appear in the Trailer, so no telling what her role will be (Major or Minor).

Being an election year, I believe this is why the film was produced and released prior to the last Presidential Debate, which is set for Wednesday, October 19^th, 2016 at 9pm EST. As I don’t watch TV, I’ll still be in attendance at the local 18-plex theatre, where they will be a Free Livecast at that time. This theatre will be giving away a Free small soft drink with purchase of any size Popcorn. If you would like to meet F2F, you’ll know where to find me.

There were many U.S. government departments involved in the storyline. For example:

• Financial Crimes Prevention Division
• Treasury Secretary and other personnel
• FBI Agent-in-charge and other examiners
• Various police officers, Detention Center personnel
• Teamwork among all government agencies

And, of course, the Media behaving appropriately.

There are lots of familiar faces (actors and actresses), whom you’ve seen in supporting roles in recent films: Jason Bourne, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight Rises, Furious 7, Captain America: Civil War, Jurassic World, and soon-to-be-released films (American Made, Fast 8). Some hail from TV series: The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, NCIS: New Orleans.

After reviewing the Character List (in order of appearance), the plot goes something like this…

Present day: Tactical mercenary…shootout…

Flashback to past with Neurologist…Young Justine & Young Chris & Chris’ father…

Present day: Robotics Lab…Alpha Mercenary & Thugs…something happens…involving an Autistic Boy (not so unlike Christian), because there is an appearance by a Police Officer in the Funeral Home.

How does this transition into the introduction of the Neuroscience Nurse?

After more Mercenaries are introduced, cut to the Detention Center, and what does the UPS Delivery man have in-store for us?

Multiple Snipers, at a Press Conference…someone’s going to get hurt, or die trying!... because it’s followed by an appearance at the Funeral Home. The only question at this point in the story is “Is it the same funeral home & the same mortician?”

Homeland Security makes an appearance, while the FBI sends in more agents.

There is always the return to the Robotics Lab theme, so this somehow ties into the Main plotline. But, how is it tied in? It must be a central link, because there are more snipers & the introduction of the Mercenary Leader, as well as more patients involved. This explains why Christian is shooting a serious rifle.

Here’s a clue: Enter the Mafia guys! And the Funeral Director. Which means the body count is starting to stack up.

This reminds me of many elements from The Manchurian Candidate (1962) with Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury.

Thank you to the 3 mainlining production companies, and 12 other companies for the making of this film.

Directed by Gavin O’Connor.
Written by Bill Dubuque.
Music by Mark Isham. Who also composed The Mechanic: Resurrection theme (which was really catchy, paying homage to Charles Bronson in the 1972 version of The Mechanic).
Cinematography by Seamus McGarvey (The Avengers).
Edited by Richard Pearson (Iron Man 2).

Principal filming occurred in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

What’s interesting to note is most of the Production Crew has worked on Action-Adventure-Superhero/Graphic Novel films within the last 2 years.

The stunts were good, but I felt that some of the earlier Bourne films and Jack Reacher had slightly better stunts due to editing, and a different Male Lead. Mr. Affleck is physically taller than Mr. Damon or Mr. Cruise, so this affects the type of stunts that can be performed.

While I was watching this film, I had a feeling that I had seen something similar, earlier this year. Forensic Technical Advisor Joey Phillips had done work on Triple 9. So, I was not dreaming!

The script was included in the “Blacklist” of the best unproduced screenplays in December 2011. There were re-visits to the script from Summer 2012 to 2014. It went into Pre-production in November 2014, began filming in January 2015, with Post-production beginning in May 2015. It was completed in August 2016.

• Some interesting release events include: Rome Film Festival (Italy), Haifa Film Festival (Israel).
• Anna Kendrick and J.K. Simmons have starred previously in Up in the Air.
• Ms. Kendrick based her role on her mother, who read the script and advised her on the math behind the accounting.
• Ben, Anna, John Lithgow and J.K. have worked independently in animated Dreamworks movies.
• Ben, J.K., Jon Bernthal and Cynthia have all played Comic Book characters.
• The rhyme that is repeated by Ben’s character is the same rhyme that Solomon Grundy uses to calm himself down. Solomon is a DC Comics Book character, who conflicts with Batman (also played by & will be played by Ben in the newly announced film).

See you next week, for another bid at the Patriotic Film-of-the-Year (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back). Aloha, Pam