Any accountant worth his salt knows how to "cook the books." Our hero seems to work for marginal businesses, cartels and illegal importers who need help uncooking their books. ...AND he survives! Who is this guy? Problem is, lately the Feds seem to know what's going on and the body count is rising. What's going on?

 

This R-rated actioner is helmed by award-winning director Gavin O'Connor ("Tumbleweeds") and is based on a script by Bill Dubuque ("The Judge"). There is implied torture and some profanity, plus lots of creeping in hallways with guns, but we ALL have seen worse! The story and the characters carried the day.

 

Here is part of O'Connor's cast:

• * Ben Affleck ("Batman") is Christian Wolff, our eponymous hero. Through flashbacks, we see how his career military father dealt with his son's Asperger's syndrome. It isn't easy to watch! The result is, our man cannot leave a project unfinished.
• * Anna Kendrick ("Into the Woods") is Dana Cummings, the bookkeeper at his new employer's firm. She's really good with numbers...hmmm...maybe  a bit too good.
• * J.K. Simmonds ("La La Land") Director Raymond King claims he is nearing the end of a singularly dismal career at Treasury but he has his reputation to uphold, and maybe a tale to tell... There are no mysteries left except one: Who is The Accountant?
• * Cynthia Addai-Robinson (LOTS of TV) Marybeth Medina works as a Treasury agent, but she is being coerced to do more because her talents shouldn't go to waste. Can she discover the identity of The Accountant?
• * John Lithgow ("The Crown") Lamar Black can't undo his decision to hire TheAccountant, even though he may want to. His medical devices are revolutionizing the market for prosthetics.
• * Jon Bernthal ("Daredevil") Braxton is there to protect his boss; but what if he understands all the issues?
• * Jean Smart (Lots of TV) This former Seattle actress works all the time, and she's always good. This time she plays Rita Blackburn, an official for Black's medical device company.

This became highly involving, much to my surprise. The cast is uniformly excellent and the casting agents did a brilliant job of matching children to their adult versions, but the plot is convoluted enough that you MUST pay attention! Just ignore teeny slips in continuity and editing. Remember when we buy a movie ticket, we agree to suspend disbelief. Many of the plot twists turned out to be satisfying. Our screening audience left the theater vocal and happy.