The Accountant, which hit theaters on Oct. 14, came close in many ways to filling the action-movie void that currently plagues America, but ultimately fell short. The star-studded cast delivered some exceptional performances that were unfortunately unsupported by a weak storyline and poor editing.
The first act of the film, during which we meet our characters and establish some intriguing plot points, was the strongest part of the whole thing. Ben Affleck’s performance as a high-functioning autistic accountant assassin/flannel shirt model was both believable and engrossing.
Anna Kendrick starred alongside Affleck as; you guessed it, also an accountant. Kendrick herself did not disappoint. Her emotions cut right through the screen into the audience’s lap, and her trademark sincerity pervaded every one of her scenes. That said, the movie could have greatly benefitted from more of her character, Dana Cummings, who was dropped off at a hotel in the middle of the action, only to be seen again in an epilogue of sorts.
One action scene, which involved a Ford F-150, a belt, a henchman and a hostage, takes the cake as the best action sequence of the movie. Most of the other fast-moving scenes fell short in some way. Some were so darkly lit that the movement and choreography was completely lost. Others dragged on for much longer than they should have.
Simply handing the film over to any average editor with access to iMovie could have solved most of the timing issues. By eliminating a handful of unnecessary pauses and cheesy lines of dialogue, the film could have shaved a couple minutes off, which would have been a welcomed changed to most viewers.
The last 20 minutes of the movie were spent tying up some pitifully underdeveloped subplots and symbols, most of which could have been excluded from the whole of the movie in the first place. The strong cast thankfully works to balance out these flaws, making some of the slow editing and vague dialogue more forgivable.
Jeffrey Tambor, John Lithgow, J. K. Simmons, and Jon Bernthal fill the supporting roles in the film, and deliver the fresh performances that most audiences expect from them.
A ticket to see The Accountant is not a total waste of money, but with the batch of movies available most places this weekend; don’t make The Accountant your first choice.
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