David Farnor | On 23, Aug 2025

Director: Gavin O’Connor
Cast: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, Allison Robertson
Certificate: 15

It feels like a long time ago that Ben Affleck was juggling a calculator and a sniper rifle in The Accountant – and that’s because it was. It’s been almost a decade since the 2016 actioner introduced us to Christian Wolff, the dubiously conceived math savant-turned-vigilante whose autism was treated as an excuse for action sequences – with any attempts at nuance or understanding replaced by superheroic stereotypes, and drowned out by loud music and lots of gunfire. Was it progressive? Not really. Was it entertaining? Not really, either.

The Accountant 2 is an unwanted but welcome step to address some of the original film’s miscalculations. We catch up with Christian years after the events of The Accountant, as he is drawn back into the web surrounding JK Simmons’ Ray King, after he is murdered – and instructs Treasury agent Marybeth (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to track Christian down. What ensues is a string of overly complicated threads that range from human trafficking and a Salvadorean family on the run – held together by the recurring threat of Anaïs (Daniella Pineda), an amnesiac assassin who has implausibly gained ruthless fighting skills after a head injury.

All this is unnecessarily intricate and the script (from returning writer Bill Dubuque) gets a little too bogged down in the details over the bloated 132 minutes. But what it does do very well is balance that it with a trio of central performances. Cynthia Addai-Robinson, returning from a small role in the first film, steps into the unwitting civilian role and gamely calls out every moral misstep by Christian – not just his breaking the law but his dubious school for hackers, which recruits neurodivergent youngsters.

Ben Affleck, meanwhile, finds more ambiguity and humanity in his performance beyond merely avoiding eye contact; the more time we spend away from his character’s questionable backstory in the first outing, the more time we get to enjoy spending time with him and getting to understand him instead. Rather than position him as the brunt of the joke, the sequel does well to reposition him so that we’re laughing with him at a world that doesn’t make the effort to connect with him – whether that’s him gaming a dating algorithm or, in one moment of real joy, joining in line-dancing. There’s also a welcome addition of Allison Robertson, an autistic actor, to play Christian’s hacker/handler Justine – a nonverbal autistic woman – with more depth than the script gives her.

The film’s masterstroke, though, is the bringing back of Jon Bernthal as Braxton, Christian’s estranged brother, who makes an equally illicit living as a brash enforcer. Bernthal dials up the swagger and charisma to make Braxton more larger than life, enjoying the chance to sink his teeth into familiar themes of machismo and loneliness. They’re a genuinely enjoyable double-act to watch together, as Braxton looks up to his older sibling while still wondering if Christian’s lack of keeping in touch is to do with him or his brother.

Director Gavin O’Connor again serves up hyper-violent shootouts and punch-ups, but the brothers’ heartfelt chemistry is an addition that makes what could be a by-the-numbers sequel an entertaining actioner.

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