The Accountant (2016 film)

The Accountant is a 2016 American action-thriller film directed by Gavin O'Connor, written by Bill Dubuque and starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Lithgow. The storyline follows Christian Wolff, a certified public accountant with high-functioning autism who makes his living uncooking the books of criminal and terrorist organizations around the world that are experiencing internal embezzlement.
"The Accountant" premiered in Los Angeles on October 10, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on October 14, 2016. Receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film grossed $155 million worldwide. It received praise for the action sequences featuring "Pencak silat", an Indonesian martial art.
Plot.
As a child, Christian Wolff is diagnosed with high-functioning autism at Harbor Neuroscience. Chris's father declines the offer for his son to stay in an environment better for his sensory processing disorder, believing that Chris must overcome the hardships of his condition, but Chris's overwhelmed mother abandons their family. Afraid that others will exploit his son, Chris's father—a US Army PSYOP officer—begins a brutal regimen of stoicism and martial arts training for him and his brother, Braxton.
In the present, Chris works as a forensic accountant from a small strip mall office in Plainfield, Illinois. He unmasks insider financial deceptions, often for criminal and terrorist enterprises. Chris's clients interact with Chris through the Voice, an unidentified woman who calls him "Dreamboat". He exposes himself daily to loud music and flashing lights to inure himself to sensory overload.
Chris is hired to audit Living Robotics after the company's founder and CEO, Lamar Blackburn, and his sister Rita learn of discrepancies from in-house accountant Dana Cummings. Chris finds that over $61 million has been embezzled from the company. CFO Ed Chilton, who is diabetic, is forced by a hitman to commit suicide from an insulin overdose. Lamar dismisses Chris, claiming Chilton killed himself because of the embezzlement, leaving Chris very distraught because he cannot finish the audit.
Meanwhile, Director of FinCEN Ray King pursues Chris, known to him only as "the Accountant". King blackmails Treasury data analyst Marybeth Medina to help him locate the Accountant. Her leads include Chris's cover names, a recording from his killing of nine members of the Gambino crime family, and some photos.
Medina isolates Chris's voice from the recording of the Gambino killing, hearing him repeating the nursery rhyme "Solomon Grundy". She learns that his vocal cadence is reminiscent of those with autism, and that Chris's aliases are famed mathematicians, including his current identity, Christian Wolff. Using IRS records, she finds his Illinois office.
Assassins sent by Blackburn fail to kill Chris; the last reveals that Dana is the next target. Chris saves her before taking her to his storage unit, containing an Airstream Panamerica with artwork and other valuables, which he uses to quickly flee in when necessary. As they talk, he realizes that the embezzlement at Living Robotics is a scheme like Crazy Eddie's; money stolen from the company is returned to it, boosting profits and increasing the company's valuation as it prepares for an initial public offering. When Chris goes to confront Rita he finds her dead, exposing Lamar as the embezzler.
Government agents search Chris's heavily secured home. King explains to Medina that Chris was imprisoned at Leavenworth because of a fight at his estranged mother's funeral, where his father was killed protecting Chris. He learned accounting from Francis Silverberg, a Gambino family accountant who became an FBI informant. King was Silverberg's handler, but his inaction led to Silverberg being brutally killed; King was staking out the Gambinos when Chris came to avenge his mentor. Chris could have killed King, but let him go after asking if he was a good father. King began getting information from the Voice when criminals violated Chris's moral code, and became director of FinCen. King lets Medina know he expects her to take over when he retires. The phone rings, and the Voice tells Medina about Living Robotics.
Chris goes to Lamar's mansion, where the hitman and his men await. During the battle, the hitman recognizes Chris repeating the nursery rhyme and reveals that he is Chris's brother Braxton; they have not seen each other since Chris's imprisonment. Braxton attacks Chris, blaming him for their father's death. During a pause in their fight Lamar interrupts; Chris shoots him, ending the battle. Chris amicably agrees to meet Braxton in a week, saying he will find him.
At Harbor Neuroscience another set of parents visit along with their child. The boy meets Justine, the daughter of the clinic's director, who is a resident patient there; she is revealed to be the Voice, and Chris funds the center with his bookkeeping profits. Dana receives a Jackson Pollock painting she saw in the trailer, as Chris drives out of town with the Airstream in tow.
Production.
Casting.
On November 12, 2014, "Variety" reported that Anna Kendrick was in early talks to co-star in the film, alongside Affleck. Later that day, J. K. Simmons was also announced as being in talks to join the cast. On November 14, 2014, Jon Bernthal was also in talks. On January 6, 2015, "Variety" reported that Cynthia Addai-Robinson was added to the cast. On January 14, 2015, Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow were added to the cast of the film.
Filming.
Principal photography began on January 19, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. On March 16–20, filming was taking place at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Filming wrapped on April 2, 2015.
Fight choreography.
The action sequences in the film featured the Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat.
Marketing.
On July 9, 2015, a year before the film's release, it had received graphic novelization published by Vertigo, a limited comic book imprint owned by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Release.
The film was released in the United States on October 14, 2016. Before that, Warner Bros. had scheduled it for January 29, 2016 and October 7, 2016. It held its European premiere in London on October 17, 2016.
Home media.
"The Accountant" was released on Digital HD on December 27, 2016 and on Blu-ray and DVD on January 10, 2017. Between January and March 2017 the film sold 463,367 DVDs and 313,279 Blu-rays for a total of $19.2 million. In April 2018, the MPAA reported it was the top-rented film of 2017 for both disc and digital.
Reception.
Box office.
"The Accountant" grossed $86.3 million in the United States and Canada and $68.9 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $155.2 million, against a production budget of $44 million.
"The Accountant" was released alongside "Max Steel" and "", and was expected to gross $20–25 million from 3,332 theaters in its opening weekend, although the studio was projecting a conservative $15 million opening. The film made $1.35 million from its Thursday night previews, more than Affleck's "Gone Girl" ($1.2 million) in 2014. It grossed $9.1 million on its first day and $24.7 million in its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office and was the second highest-debut for a thriller of Affleck's career, behind "Gone Girl" ($37.5 million). In its second weekend, the film grossed $13.6 million (a drop of 44.8%), finishing 4th at the box office.
Critical response.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 52% based on 282 reviews, with an average rating of 5.67/10. The website's critical consensus reads: ""The Accountant" writes off a committed performance from Ben Affleck, leaving viewers with a scattershot action thriller beset by an array of ill-advised deductions." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on reviews from 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 84% overall positive score and a 64% "definite recommend".
Vince Mancini of "Uproxx" gave the film a positive review, writing, "It’s transparent in its attempt both to pimp a future franchise and give autistic kids their own superhero. There’s a genuine sweetness to the latter that converts me on the former. Headshots, math problems, and pained social interactions? Sign me up. Of the two movies Ben Affleck has been in so far this year, "The Accountant" and "", "The Accountant" has by far the most franchise potential." Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying: "Madness abounds in "The Accountant", an intense, intricate, darkly amusing and action-infused thriller that doesn't always add up but who cares, it's BIG FUN."
Richard Brody of "The New Yorker" panned the film, stating: "This thrill-free thriller...piles up plotlines like an overbuilt house of cards that comes crashing down at the first well-earned guffaw of ridicule."
Sequel.
In June 2017, it was announced that a sequel was in development with Gavin O'Connor and Bill Dubuque returning in their respective roles as director and writer. Affleck will return in the starring role. In February 2020, Affleck reiterated his desire for a sequel, also noting the possibility of a television series based on the character.