The taxing sequel 'The Accountant 2' balances the books, not the tone

“The Accountant 2” subtracts everything that worked astir the 2016 original, a marvelous romp that starred Ben Affleck arsenic Christian Wolff, a neurodivergent numbers geek who freelances arsenic an auditor and assassin. Of each the action-thrillers astir killers with a precise peculiar acceptable of broadside hustles, “The Accountant” was astute amusive arsenic opposed to dumb amusive oregon simply dumb, arsenic with this leaden sequel, successful which Chris’ grisly efforts to bust up a quality trafficking ringing are duller than watching him speech astir taxes.

Returning manager Gavin O’Connor and screenwriter Bill Dubuque instrumentality it arsenic religion that audiences volition retrieve the backstory. I’ll capable you successful conscionable successful case: Chris is simply a mathematics savant who struggles to recognize empathy. (Pointedly, helium ne'er specifies his spot connected the spectrum. “I’m conscionable Chris,” helium says here.) As a child, his rigid subject begetter refused to accommodate his son’s eccentricities, beating it into the lad that helium indispensable combat for his spot successful the satellite — literally. Hence, grown-up Chris is simply a nomadic misfit with 2 talents: sharpshooting and solving quadratic equations.

Ludicrous? Sure. But that archetypal publication was good calibrated with subtle wit and romance. It besides boasted an astute supporting spot for Jon Bernthal arsenic Chris’ estranged younger member Braxton, different mercenary delicate to however his wants ever took 2nd spot to his sibling’s peculiar needs.

Bernthal has a bigger portion this clip and his quality has been reworked into a comedic sidekick with his ain kooky wiring. Whereas Chris has excessively small emotion, Braxton has acold excessively overmuch — he’s touchy, insecure and prone to temper tantrums, truthful caught up successful his ain psychodrama that helium loiters astir his execution sprees gossiping astir his member to a dazed hostage. I tin get the reasoning to physique retired his role, but the gags are clunky from the get-go, including a tedious agelong successful which Braxton whines astir his urgent tendency to follow a corgi. Even Chris thinks that’s weird, pegging Braxton arsenic much of a feline guy.

O’Connor has teased that helium sees this bid arsenic a trilogy; the 3rd movie volition beryllium a buddy drama helium describes arsenic “‘Rain Main’ connected steroids.” I privation he’d gone up and made that movie now. The jokey scenes are the lone ones he’s funny in. They’re besides the lone ones that thin to beryllium immoderate good.

This go-round, everything’s louder and much banal. (And there’s not adjacent capable math). Chris utilized to person a grim, distinctive tic of executing his enemies successful the head; now, the climactic conflict is conscionable a spray of bullets. He’s besides been transformed into a stereotypical, lightsaber-brandishing nerd with a wardrobe of wacky T-shirts. One reads Awesome Sauce.

The champion moving gag tracks Chris’ attempts to get a girlfriend. He starts the movie astatine a speed-dating lawsuit where, successful a large montage, helium disappoints a procession of dewy singletons who shrivel up erstwhile this hunk comes crossed arsenic acold and rude. “Eventually, this assemblage volition beryllium a corpse,” helium tells 1 woman. The 2nd fantastic rom-com series is acceptable astatine a honky-tonk bar, but, similar the opener, it leads to a communicative dormant end.

Still, I’d ticker “The Accountant 2” connected an airplane doubly much if it had a twelve different scenes similar these. Pity it feels a consciousness of work to person Chris sprout much than lovelorn blanks. The movie seems to recoil from its ain hammering dramatics, with Bryce Dessner’s people toggling uneasily betwixt jocular blues and dour, overcompensating strings.

Of each imaginable subplot, it’s hard to deliberation of a worse 1 than Chris and Braxton’s hunt to find a household of disappeared Salvadorans. Chris is peculiarly taken by a photograph of the son, Alberto (Yael Ocasio); helium sees himself successful the boy’s far-away stare. For villains, we’re fixed enslaved traders Burke (Robert Morgan) and Cobb (Grant Harvey), though we ne'er cognize overmuch them astir too Cobb’s large plaid pants and memorable croak. There’s besides an enigmatic platinum blonde woman hitman (Daniella Pineda), who is revealed to person undergone a heck of a cosmetic glow-up.

It’s not the movie’s responsibility that it’s getting released close erstwhile Americans are being asked to wage sincere attraction to immigrants who are susceptible to kidnapping and abuse. But it is simply a occupation erstwhile “The Accountant 2” peddles Pizzagate innuendo portion treating its victims arsenic mute, human-shaped wadding — astir nary of the Latino characters get immoderate existent lines different than a huff of gringo-friendly Spanish. (“Estupido!” “Vamanos!”)

Adding to the buzzkill, this sequel brings backmost its astir strait-laced character, Marybeth (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), the manager of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, who weaves into the Wolff brothers’ rescue ngo mostly to lecture them erstwhile they run extracurricular the law. Federal agents can’t kidnap and detain people, she insists. The movie is truthful unsure what to bash with her that her 2 large moments are an implausible brawl and her delight astatine uncovering a comfy bureau chair.

Frankly, the much trifling the crime, the amended this franchise’s drama aspirations would work. Divide my affection for the archetypal movie by the fewer clever beats present and it’s capable to get maine to spot what O’Connor is calculating for “The Accountant 3.” But for the emotion of Gauss (as successful Carl Friedrich Gauss, the prince of mathematics), I anticipation that sequel isn’t immoderate much superior than “Who Shorted the Accountant’s Bitcoin?”

At slightest that ridiculousness would lucifer the revelation present that Chris funds an academy of superb neurodiverse children capable to hack into immoderate camera, machine oregon metropolis streetlight. I deliberation the movie intends these youngsters to beryllium a semirealistic pack of X-Men, but it doesn’t springiness them immoderate dialog oregon individuality; they’re treated much similar the orphans successful “Oliver Twist.” They astir apt don’t adjacent get paid. What a write-off.