In 2016, Ben Affleck’s The Accountant became a sleeper hit — much to anyone’s surprise. Affleck’s high-functioning autistic accountant drew a few raised eyebrows for his portayal of autism as a kind of superpower — a retrograde depiction of spectrum disorder even back then. But the movie became a hit, and soon, a sequel was greenlit, with Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and J.K. Simmons all reprising their roles.
Except in The Accountant 2, Simmons’ Ray King starts off dead, kicking off a conspiracy that will force Affleck’s Christian Wolff, his brother Brax (Bernthal), and Addai-Robinson’s Treasury agent Marybeth Medina to join forces to find King’s killer. Watch the first trailer for The Accountant 2 below.
The Accountant 2 (or, as it says on the poster, The Accountant Squared) once again offers a central mystery: who killed Ray King? The Treasury Director who pursued Christian Wolff in the first movie is found murdered, leading the now-promoted Marybeth Medina to turn to Wolff for help. Wolff, now living off the grid in a trailer, can’t resist a good puzzle: King’s corpse had the message “find the accountant” on his arm, while reports of who he saw last only turns up more questions. It’s enough for him to turn to his brother, Brax, leading to the three of them forming an unusual partnership — one that the highly moral Medina struggles to make peace with.
Here’s the synopsis for The Accountant 2:
Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) has a talent for solving complex problems. When an old acquaintance is murdered, leaving behind a cryptic message to “find the accountant,” Wolff is compelled to solve the case. Realizing more extreme measures are necessary, Wolff recruits his estranged and highly lethal brother, Brax (Jon Bernthal), to help. In partnership with U.S. Treasury Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), they uncover a deadly conspiracy, becoming targets of a ruthless network of killers who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.
The original Accountant tapped into a latent demand for the kind of mid-budget B-movie thrillers that have mostly disappeared over the past few decades, and its revivification on streaming and home video platforms is proof. The sequel appears to bring back that same brand slightly hokey B-movie shine, with the added benefit of seeing Affleck and Bernthal bicker even more. As for Christian Wolff’s “austism superpowers”? They’re still there, but hey that’s just part of the package deal.
