Right Where It Counts...

The Accountant (2016, R)

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons and Jon Bernthal

A little slow on the starting line but well worth getting out of the gate.  This is a rare "action" movie that takes the chance of little to no action in the first half to two-thirds of the movie to concentrate solely on character development and building the blocks of the bigger story for us to pick up and run with.  It is a smart move in this case.  We can take the time to connect with the characters, becoming more involved and more invested in who they are and what made them that way, pointing us toward a far more satisfying resolution.

Ben Affleck brings us a different take on an otherwise over saturated character in the action movie realm-- the assassin with a conscience.  I liked it.  The filmmakers and Affleck have joined together to bring us a fairly original take on this and I, for one, really enjoyed it.

The rest of the cast was very well chosen as well.  Anna Kendrick and Ben Affleck's back and forth are both endearing and awkward (in a good way) enough to make you care about both of them and where they end up.  Jon Bernthal is a wonderful addition as well.  It's good to see that he is making his own way; from his start on The Walking Dead and his extremely well done Punisher on Netflix's DareDevil, Bernthal will be around for a long while.

All in all, The Accountant was a really good movie.  Pulls you in to the story and the action with well rounded and believable characters. 

Enjoy.