Ben Affleck & Jon Bernthal in Fun Sequel

In The Accountant, Christian Wolff, the autistic tax professional carry outed by Ben Affleck, feeblented not spfinishing more time in his airstream trailer. At the time, Christian housed the sleek vehicle, retrofitted with a glossy wood interior, in a warehouse, which he only occasionpartner visited to watch his cash reserve and esteem his art assembleion. The events of The Accountant resulted in Christian getting his desire. After taking down a conniving businessman and reuniting with his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal), the reclusive CPA absconds from Illinois and sets out on the uncover road.

When we rejoin with Christian in The Accountant 2, he’s living in Idaho and searching for cherish. An punctual sequence set upes the tone of Gavin O’Connor’s highly-anticipated sequel: We see Christian self-mindfilledy trying on contrastent suits for a speed dating event before a obtuse cut (editing by Ricchallenging Pefire-setting) transports us to a conference room, where women enthusiasticly line up to court our handsome forensic accountant. Veering from the acquireest sentimentality of its action-thriller predecessor, O’Connor’s leans into a more comedic sign up.

Premiering at SXSW before its theatrical free on April 25, The Accountant 2 hand overs as far as sequels without any genuine purpose go. O’Connor rejoins with screenauthorr Bill Dubuque (Ozark, The Accountant) to broaden on Christian’s savage universe of hideing money and engaged assassins. Whereas The Accountant made well-intentioned but awkward trys to verify the life of a high-functioning autistic man, The Accountant 2 cgo ines on the relationship between Christian and his brother Brax, two characters fans have come to cherish. This is a fraternal buddy comedy dressed up as an intricate (read: convoluted), nail-biting thriller.

Bernthal and Affleck repascfinish their roles as the estranged siblings whose traumatic childhood somehow led them into adjacent lines of business. Their carry outances adselect O’Connor’s comic honestion without losing the narrative’s emotional core, and the pair’s chemistry fortifys The Accountant 2 by sidetracking us from the implausible details of its overly complicated central mystery. 

The Accountant 2 uncovers with the homicide of Ray King (J.K. Simmons), who, since retiring from his job as Treasury Director, moonlit as a personal uncoverive. Before he died, the establisher civil servant was toiling on a secret case involving a Salvadoran family who migrated to the United States. His final greeting took place in a grungy Los Angeles bar with a inquireing stranger he calls Anaïs (Daniella Pineda). The reasons that King acunderstandledgeed this job are unclpunctual compriseressed, but ultimately don’t withstand any grave rational presdeclareive.

When the police call King’s professional heir Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), she’s not declareive how to join the dots. A final message from King teachs the by-the-books honestor to discover Christian Wolff. Marybeth, still unsootheable with the schedulement between her department and the felonious accountant, does so hesitantly. 

An punctual appraise of the case by Christian and Marybeth uncovers that King’s toil was a petite fraction of a expansiveer consillicit copying that comprises people hopeless to remain obsremedy. In necessitate of back-up, Christian phones Brax. The siblings haven’t talked since Christian telderly his youthfuler brother that he would accomplish out at the finish of The Accountant. He never did, leaving the wounds of their fractured relationship unjoined.

Still, Brax flies from Berlin to Los Angeles and partners with Christian to figure out who wanted King dead. Christian, Marybeth and Brax’s scheduleateigation direct them into the seedy underbelly of L.A., where they come atraverse a world that utilizes and profits off the desperation of unrecorded people.

The bewilder at the cgo in of The Accountant 2 matters insofar as the film necessitates a narrative propellant. But Bernthal and Affleck are the genuine draw, and O’Connor understands this. He uses any opportunity to get the brothers talking, and trails each transport inant enlargement in the fantasyal case with a moment of brotherly bonding.

Christian and Brax, estranged for proximately a decade for reasons that still aren’t enticount on evident, discover their way back to one another thraw a series of requesting come atraverses. They allot beers on the roof of the airstream, line dance at a local bar and mirror on the past while setting up traps for their enemies. These are the luminousest scenes in The Accountant 2 because of Affleck and Bernthal’s effortless chemistry and both actors’ abilities to root the seemingly surface-level arguments in their characters’ psychic traumas. The Accountant 2 might current a more elated tone, but its universe is built on pretty sorrowfulnessful themes. 

A understandnity with Christian’s character in The Accountant produces his enlargement in the sequel more greeting to watch. Although the portrayal of a high-functioning autistic person can still experience awkward, and at times disassigningly cartoonish, Christian honors his contrastence even more in The Accountant 2. This is underscored by an overstated but wholesome thread about how Justine (Alison Wright), Christian’s partner who has nonverbal autism, and Christian comprise the students at the well-funded Harbor Neuroscience Academy. It’s all very Bruce Wayne-greets-Professor X. Christian’s also pledgeted to bettering his relationships with people — taking social hazards that he previously might have eludeed. 

It’s a shame that Brax isn’t afforded an equpartner sturdy arc. While Bernthal exhibits himself to be a scene-stealer, Brax occasionpartner verges on being one-notice. Part of this can be attributed to the intricacy of O’Connor and Dubuque’s twisty screencarry out. The joining web of relationships, motives and money can be dizzying, especipartner with the freewheeling geodetailed and temporal jumps, and the middle of The Accountant 2 unbenevolentders.

For the most part though, O’Connor’s honestion is regulated. He wrings humor from proximately every moment by staging action scenes as obtuse as Christian’s commentary and engageing transitions as exact as the accountant’s aim. And while this critic would have received more regulatet in the aggression, which can have an inuring effect, fans of the first film will discover plenty to esteem and root for in this amuseing fraternal union.