Ben Affleck‘s Christian Wolff from The Accountant is one of the most unusual action heroes to emerge over the last decade or so. Now, let’s face it – when folks consider accountants, they don’t consider motion heroes. Certainly, that’s one of many logos of the collection, with Affleck’s unassuming-looking Wolff intentionally made as much as look non-threatening or nerdy, just for him to own abilities that make him an unstoppable badass when push involves shove. However, not solely is he “nerdy”, however he’s additionally autistic. Not like most movies that might be about this situation, it’s not introduced as a handicap, however reasonably an important a part of who he’s, each good and unhealthy, making the movie a refreshing change of tempo from different films concerning the situation. With The Accountant 2 now in theatres, we thought now can be the proper time to look at why, towards all odds, Christian Wolff has quietly turn out to be one of many biggest motion heroes of the twenty first century.
The Accountant initially began as a script by Invoice Dubuque. Initially a company headhunter, he was approached by a producer named Mark Williams to develop the tough concept right into a script, which wound up on the 2011 Blacklist – a contest for the most effective unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. By the point the movie got here out 5 years later, Dubuque can be well-established, having co-written the Robert Downey Jr drama, The Choose, and a semi-autobiographical account of his personal profession referred to as A Household Man.
The Accountant got here alongside at an attention-grabbing time for Affleck, in that he’d re-established himself as each an actor and a director with the back-to-back hits, The City and Argo. He additionally had a smash with Gone Woman, and had simply been forged because the Caped Crusader in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman. One can see why The Accountant will need to have been an irresistible position for Affleck, in that not solely would it not permit him to flex the motion chops he picked up as Batman, however it could additionally permit him a significant problem, with Wolff’s Autism a major element of the story.
As much as then, autism in movies was portrayed primarily as a incapacity, whereas the characters have been additionally usually given savant-like experience, akin to Dustin Hoffman’s capacity to rely playing cards in Rain Man. Whereas some have criticized The Accountant for taking part in into the identical tropes, there’s a key distinction. Wolff’s character isn’t a savant who routinely acquires abilities. As a substitute, he’s a person who’s used his neurodivergence as an asset, coaching himself in a wide range of abilities, with the film positioning him as a forensic accountant for the mob, He makes tens of millions doing this, however he additionally has a hidden altruistic facet, with him utilizing his abilities to assist these he feels have been victimized out of bother. He additionally feeds recommendations on his shoppers to his contact on the Treasury, utilizing his lethal coaching in martial arts and army ways, which he realized together with his brother Braxton (performed by Jon Bernthal), to struggle off any bodily threats.
All this makes Wolff each typical and atypical of the style. Positive, he fights and shoots like John Wick, however he additionally has a deeply human facet, aided partly by college students at a Neurodivergence institute that he funds, which turns into an enormous a part of the sequel. Wolff additionally struggles with loneliness, discovering it troublesome to have any relationships. Often, Affleck is introduced as a form of super-stud in his films, however Wolff isn’t like this, to the extent that there’s by no means even a touch of romance between him and his feminine co-star within the first movie, Anna Kendrick’s Dana.
Nevertheless, Wolff can also be proven to be extraordinarily loyal, often feeding info to an agent he admires on the Treasury, performed by J.Ok. Simmons, whereas being tracked by one other agent, Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Marybeth Medina. He additionally avenges the homicide of his former mentor, one other crooked accountant, performed by Jeffrey Tambor, who taught him easy methods to launder cash once they did a stint in jail collectively.
This makes him a hero that’s straightforward to route for, with the sequel doubling down on a facet the primary movie solely dips its toe into – his relationship together with his non-autistic brother, Braxton, performed by Jon Bernthal, who’s much less of a egghead, however simply as lethal in fight as he’s. In The Accountant, Braxton’s true id is simply revealed within the climax, whereas within the sequel, the 2 are paired in what’s basically a buddy comedy highway journey movie – to glorious impact, I’d add.
Surprisingly, The Accountant was not a smash hit when it got here out in 2016. It did effectively, making $86 million domestically, on a $44 million finances. Worldwide, it made near $155 million, permitting it to show a revenue. But, apparently, it was on DVD/ Blu-ray and streaming the place the movie turned a significant success. It earned mixed-to-negative evaluations, nevertheless it additionally looks like a film folks tended to understand extra in hindsight. Possibly it’s because director Gavin O’Connor made an extremely re-watchable film, with it having the identical form of meat-and-potatoes vibe you’d discover in an motion thriller from the eighties or nineties. It’s not too frenetic or overwhelming. It’s the form of film you may watch repeatedly as consolation viewing.
To that finish, Affleck, who’s solely now re-emerging after a self-imposed hiatus, is again with The Accountant 2, hoping to launch Christian Wolff as a franchise character. Certainly, given the movie’s wonderful reception at its SXSW premiere, which I attended, this might occur because the sequel is simply as a lot enjoyable as the primary film. If something, it doubles down on all the pieces that made Wolff so distinctive as a hero, with the additional advantage of creating Bernthal’s Braxton maybe his most memorable big-screen position so far. Right here’s hoping it’s one other hit!
