The Accountant 2: Prime Video Movie Review

Cast: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pinada

Director: Gavin O'Connor

Ben Affleck's autistic accountant returns nearly a decade after his first outing for another run that puts him in not one, but two odd couple situations and runs with it.

Yet rather than deal with the more character-led moments of the story, what emerges in The Accountant 2 is a stereotypical shoot-out set in Mexico that just about hits all the familiar plots of human trafficking, faceless bad guys and bloody ludicrous demises.

Affleck is Christian Wolff, who's called in to help Treasury deputy director Marybeth Medina (Addai-Robinson) when the department's former director is killed (an all too wasted JK Simmons). Tracking down those believed to be responsible throws up a curveball involving a missing Mexican family and a reunion with Wolff's brother Braxton (a livewire and charismatic Bernthal).

While The Accountant 2 is a solid film that goes for action over character, bullets over moral quandaries and ethical edges, its slow burn and aloof lead provide a mix that's hard to love and feels in part like it's simply about enduring the film's two hour run.

The chemistry between Bernthal and the severely restrained Affleck is great to watch, even if many of the moments comes from uneasy laughs over Wolff's unease at dealing with certain situations (something which the script mines a little too often and begins to feel like an unfair dramatic crutch). Equally, a university hub run by autistic kids to hack and track crimes feels a little borderline too - one moment where the edges are blurred and a character pushes back against it seems like an ill-advised roadblock than a dramatic necessity.

But a messy script with untidy edges holds things back when it should soar and a somewhat muddy narrative and central mystery leaves The Accountant 2 feeling undercooked when it should soar. And at times, it never entirely seems convinced whether it's a buddy movie from the 1980s or an overly grim drama that's clearly been inspired by Sicario.

Perhaps an expeditious trim would have helped here - because in the final wash, unfortunately, this Accountant doesn't quite add up.

The Accountant 2 is streaming now on Prime Video.