{"id":5756,"date":"2016-10-14T09:28:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T13:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=5756"},"modified":"2022-10-25T09:32:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:32:54","slug":"the-accountant-is-a-brilliant-mind-meets-death-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-accountant-is-a-brilliant-mind-meets-death-wish\/","title":{"rendered":"The Accountant is A Brilliant Mind meets Death Wish"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You can imagine the elevator pitch: “A Brilliant Mind<\/em> meets Death Wish<\/em>! Ben Affleck! Anna Kendrick!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director Gavin O\u2019Connor’s The Accountant<\/em> flirts with righteous anger at big business financial corruption, but wimps out by ultimately fingering a single venal individual with a hired army of faceless mercenaries. There\u2019s nothing engaging about a plot that can be resolved by the hero shooting a few people in the head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only a fool would go to a violent action flick and complain about its violent action, but I\u2019m a fool, so here you go: I found The Accountant<\/em>\u2019s gunplay and brutality a little hard to take. The protagonist has high-functioning autism, with its corresponding problems with empathy and emotional intelligence. But his capability to cooly execute without remorse seems to me to be more in the realm of psychopathy. Even the brainwashed supersoldier Jason Bourne was tortured with remorse, making him more of a tragic figure than a gunslinging Dirty Harry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anna
A Brilliant Mind meets Death Wish.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It does have an enjoyably twisty plot, but cheats by untangling much of its complex backstory in a lengthy expositional infodump near the end (thankfully ameliorated by the ever-capable J.K. Simmons<\/a>\u2019 delivery). The suspense of waiting for certain character backstories to be revealed is entertaining, but the particular mystery the movie saves for its climactic reveal is also its most obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anna Kendrick<\/a> can\u2019t help but be charming and likable, but she\u2019s given almost zero characterization here. I wish more had been made of a young, idealistic professional who naively blows the whistle on a poisonously dangerous corruption. But she\u2019s is pretty much a blank love interest with an incongruously swank, well-appointed loft apartment. And she throws herself at Ben Affleck<\/a> a little quickly (but I\u2019ll chalk that up to PTSD and Ben’s pretty chin dimple).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of that said, there\u2019s a lot to commend The Accountant<\/em>. It\u2019s an original story, not a sequel, adaptation, or remake. And while I\u2019m uncomfortable with its equation of autism with psychopathy, the movie mostly avoids either romanticizing or exploiting the disability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You can imagine the elevator pitch: “A Brilliant Mind meets Death Wish! Ben Affleck! Anna Kendrick!” Director Gavin O\u2019Connor’s The Accountant flirts with righteous anger at big business financial corruption, but wimps out by ultimately fingering a single venal individual with a hired army of faceless mercenaries. There\u2019s nothing engaging about a plot that can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[1712,1962,1132,313,1964],"class_list":["post-5756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-1712","tag-anna-kendrick","tag-ben-affleck","tag-gavin-oconnor","tag-j-k-simmons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/accountant-jigsaw.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-1uQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5865,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/john-woos-paycheck-isnt-fun-weird-or-subversive-enough-for-a-philip-k-dick-tale\/","url_meta":{"origin":5756,"position":0},"title":"John Woo’s Paycheck isn’t fun, weird, or subversive enough for a Philip K. Dick tale","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"When it comes to action cinema maestros like John Woo -- I can enjoy the the hyped-up action and weirdness of something like Face\/Off, but find that the extreme violence and gunplay can sometimes cross the line from escapism into being inhumane. Paycheck, scoring a mere PG-13 from the MPAA,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman in Paycheck","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/paycheck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/paycheck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/paycheck.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/paycheck.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/paycheck.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4311,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/exhaustively-exhausted-live-by-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":5756,"position":1},"title":"Exhaustively exhausted: Ben Affleck’s Live by Night","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Has any topic been more exhaustively dramatized than Prohibition-era gangsters? Live by Night seems especially redundant so soon after HBO's Boardwalk Empire, which covers a lot of the same ground: the Florida\/Cuba liquor pipeline, the Irish\/Italian mob conflict, the pivot to legal gambling, etc. The explanation being pretty simple: original\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Live by Night","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/live-by-night.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/live-by-night.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/live-by-night.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/live-by-night.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/live-by-night.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":642,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/gone-baby-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":5756,"position":2},"title":"Ben Affleck’s pervasively grim Gone Baby Gone","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Good ol' Bahstuhn Cahtholick Ben Affleck is an all grown-up, big-boy director now, and lookit, he made himself a pretty decent movie. That said, Gone Baby Gone is a big plate of grim, with side order of depressing. Affleck makes excellent use of location footage and local color. And not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":681,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/chasing-amy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5756,"position":3},"title":"Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy is his best film","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Chasing Amy is far and away Kevin Smith's best film, and not coincidentally his most heartfelt. It's not nothing to tell a universal guy's story while still featuring significant and sympathetic female characters. Yes, Chasing Amy is spectacularly profane and the characters are prone to giving extended on-the-nose speeches perfectly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Chasing Amy","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/chasing-amy-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/chasing-amy-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/chasing-amy-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/chasing-amy-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/chasing-amy-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8080,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/alfred-hitchcocks-psycho-still-slaps-60-years-later\/","url_meta":{"origin":5756,"position":4},"title":"Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho still slaps, 60 years later","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"November 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Alfred Hitchcock's always-relevant 1960 thriller Psycho still has the power to shock, amuse, and provoke.","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Janet Leigh in Psycho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/psycho-leigh.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/psycho-leigh.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/psycho-leigh.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/psycho-leigh.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/psycho-leigh.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5287,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/netflix-triple-frontier-2019-movie-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":5756,"position":5},"title":"Netflix’s Triple Frontier is aggro, macho horseshit","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"J.C. Chandor's Triple Frontier, Netflix's latest high-profile exclusive, aspires to be a serious Expendables. It draws surface-level inspiration from the likes of Heat and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but forgets that you need more than square jaws and gun porn. There's some dramatic potential in the premise of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Triple Frontier","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/triple-frontier.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/triple-frontier.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/triple-frontier.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/triple-frontier.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/triple-frontier.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5756"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7342,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756\/revisions\/7342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}