The Accountant

bnt

Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons, dir. Gavin O'Connor (Jane Got A Gun, Tumbleweeds):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNGhnNMSopI

Remember, it was accountants who got to Al Capone, even if they didn't have Barrett .50 Cal rifles at their disposal. :eek:

ricero

Looks good and i heard jon berthanel is also in this

Slydice

ricero wrote: »

Looks good and i heard jon berthanel is also in this

He's listed in the credits at the end of the trailer

bnt

ricero wrote: »

Looks good and i heard jon berthanel is also in this

I should have mentioned him, and Jeffrey Tambor too.

LightsStillOn

This might be the best use of music in a trailer I've ever seen!

AnonoBoy

Slydice wrote: »

He's listed in the credits at the end of the trailer

That's where I heard he's in it too.

Good trailer though. Really nicely put together.

Skerries

is he going do cheesy one liners when he kills people?

"your numbers up!"

"you're going in the minus column!"

RedemptionZ

Skerries wrote: »

"you're going in the minus column!"

I would see that movie in a heartbeat :pac:

This looks alright too.

AnonoBoy

Skerries wrote: »

is he going do cheesy one liners when he kills people?

"your numbers up!"

"you're going in the minus column!"

"You're my first deductible of the year!"

KABLOWEEE!!!

Avatar MIA

"The time of Reconciling is here."

Nervous Wreck

"I'm holding YOU..... accountable."

DerekDGoldfish

Its going to be a real STRGL to catch him.

Mr E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KQX2sIhQJY

JP Liz V1

ricero wrote: »

Looks good and i heard jon berthanel is also in this

Both Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal getting good reviews for this

WeleaseWoderick

Saw a preview screening of this last night. Biggest compliment that I can pay it is that it reminded me of John Wick.

Thoroughly enjoyable action movie but the plot might be a little far-fetched for some in terms of contrivances.

Outlaw Pete

Hated this. It felt so forced.

Lots of cheap easy ways to get a laugh were used and most of which you could see coming from a mile off. The 'absurd' ways of behaving for example were just clunky rather than genuinely funny.

I know it's a dark comedy of sorts but the lack of plausibility really grated with me. I can suspend disbelief as much as next guy but this is more than just that. You need to buy into the most incredulous and inexplicable bollox whilst also ignoring gaping holes in the plot.

At the screening I was at the crowd loved it though, so maybe it's just me.

Bloody terrible film.

evolving_doors

LightsStillOn wrote: »

This might be the best use of music in a trailer I've ever seen!

+1

(do people do that plus one thing anymore?)

+2 so

Agent Coulson

John Wick meets The Equalizer a fun action movie and something we more of.

Looper007

I had fun at this one. Nothing groundbreaking but a enjoyable 2 hours with some nice action. Ben Affleck was excellent. Anna Kendrick (she's really playing the same role in almost every film she's in) JK Simmons and John Lithgow did well with what they were given. You could see that Jon Bernthal was

Ben Affleck's character brother

coming a mile off, but he played his part well. The film lacked a villain for Affleck character to bounce off and the film could have done with some cutting down. But overall a solid flick.

Victor

Serious spoiler.

Think about it.

Father shot dead in front of him, as his mother lay dead.
Wears black.
Leads a dual life.
Financially well off.
Philanthropist.
Socially awkward.
Trusts very few people.
Has a 'butler'.
Has a shorter side-kick.
Vigilantee
Has a difficult relationship with law enforcement.
Proficient at armed and unarmed combat.
Learned martial arts in Asia.
Has a cave full of gadgets.

Ben Affleck's character is Batman.

Nervous Wreck

Fantastic film. Wasn't expectingit to be so much fun!

The Black Oil

Victor wrote: »

Serious spoiler.

Ben Affleck's character is Batman.

When he was lying on the back of the pick up I thought, ah, it's Batman in a Carhartt jacket.

:P

GrumpyMe

Well made, well edited, looks good, but definitely weak story...

FortuneChip

Really enjoyed that.
Goes exposition heavy in the 3rd act in a way I haven't seen since Lucky Number Slevin, but still thought it was very good.

Jon Bernthal really is becoming a reliable talent. He's got a very relaxed toughness to him.

12gauge dave

Enjoyed this its nearly a very good movie but as good an action film as youll see these days.

pumpkin4life

One of the dumbest fùcking movies I've ever seen.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it though.

spurious

Saw it last night on the Odeon Fiver Wednesday offer. Enjoyed it very much - as others have said contrived story and a 'twist' you could see a mile off, but hugely enjoyable nonetheless. I particularly enjoyed the scenes involving the farming couple.

Almost full cinema.

JohnRock

enjoyed it but the story isn't great

LuckyLloyd

It has some good set pieces and Affleck goes for it in parts, but I hate films that have to explicitly explain their devices to the audience - particularly when the 'mystery' wasn't particularly intriguing to begin with. The Accountant is particularly lazy and messy in that sense, and fails to find much consistentcy or momentum as a consequence.

It's a shame as a classic action movie is screaming to get out of it.

kamila jelinkova

Not bad film still bulked up from the batman film I see,5/10 worth a watch

Avatar MIA

Ah, I enjoyed it. Love the way he gave the farming couple a wave after he despatched the baddie.

More amazingly my wife loved it.

But, I'm an accountant (got the in jokes) and my wife is a teacher and spends time with children that need extra help.

Slydice

Watched it.

So good!

Watched a few interview videos on youtube. There's some good ones with Kendrick. They seem to really get along.

Also.. You know.. it feels like the mannerism of Affleck that people saw after the Batman v Superman interview.. is just how he does his interviews.

Anyway, there was also this interview about the fight!

TerrorFirmer

It's a very well made film and I really thought the first half was intriguing but the plot just descends into utter absurd ridiculousness in the latter half - the consistency of the movie was a major problem for me. The tone of the film is all over the place, leaping from drama, to action, to comedy and back - even within the action spectrum it goes from 'gritty dark' to Schwarzenegger's 'Commando' depending on the scene which is a hard sell for me.

It's not that I was expecting a searing emotional drama and I definitely appreciate cheesy action films in general, but I expected a lot more plausability, credibility, and intelligence from this particular movie. It's just so uneven and all over the place.

Watchable, but just about really for me.

Pretty good portrayal of someone with autism.

Outlaw Pete

Deleted User wrote: »

Pretty good portrayal of someone with autism.

Well, I've an autistic sister (for just over 35 years now) and as a result I have been around autism my whole life, in one way other another. Not just in terms of engaging with her but also as I have been around many with autism too, with regards to those she has been schooled with when young and who she now lives with (she has been in residential care she my father passed away).

Indeed, this is one of the reasons why I hated the film but I didn't want to get into that when I posted my initial review. But just for clarity: my sister has severe the typical social interaction difficulties, classic repetitive behaviors (from very young) along also with severe communication challenges. Eye contact for example with those she is engaging with is almost zero. I would take my sister out once a week on average and all these behaviours are extremely evident to this day. Stimming (as seen in the film) is something which is also still very much prevalent, as it is for many of the autistic adults she now lives with.

The autism spectrum is of course vast but even when it comes to Asperger's, you would still not see behaviour arcs like the one witnessed in this film and yes, I know it's just a film, but it doesn't in way attempt to give so much as a filmatic reason to explain the arc which we see this character take, with regards to him becoming so functional. I mean, there's no 'radioactive spider bite' here to explain why we saw a kid showing classic symptoms of autism at the beginning of the film, who could barely function day to day without being unable to cope with minor unpredictable events (losing a jigsaw piece etc) but who somehow is still yet then be able to go on to train to be a martial artist, then become an accountant, excel at it, get rich and be capable of killing people.

In saying that, I'd be interested to hear what makes you think this portrayal of someone with autism was in any way a 'good 'one though. As for me it is one of the worst I have seen. It would have been akin to giving the power of sight to Col. Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman. I would understand had they just made this about two brothers who were beaten as kids by an unhinged father, who then went their separate ways only to meet many years later in circumstances similar to the ones in the film, perhaps. However it is nothing short of disgraceful that they made this character autistic, cited stimming etc and then arced the character the way they did. What these idiots did was put all the extreme autistic behaviors / stereotypes (from every point along the autism spectrum) into a blender and created a character from that metaphorical smoothie and the end result is a crap film that does itself no favours let alone anyone in the autism community.

Avatar MIA

The "spider bite" was the rituals he had to go through to remain functional.

My wife works with children with learning difficulties. and looked at it from a different perspective.

And as you said, it wasn't a documentary. A film about an autistic child that didn't arc, would not have made for great fiction.

Outlaw Pete

Avatar MIA wrote: »

The "spider bite" was the rituals he had to go through to remain functional.

You mean the stimming with heavy metal music and strobe lighting? How would any of that turn a severely autistic child (and that's how he was protrayed in the early scenes of the film) to being able to then go on to become an account? Severely autistic children / adults that behave in that manner don't even understand the concept of money for heaven sake. My sister for example says that everything costs 10p. She sees no humour in that, even though everyone else will find it funny. You can show one behavior and then expect us not to question why they suddenly improved cognitively.

The point is, they had an amalgamation of all sorts of behaviors associated with points on the autism spectrum and then created this nonsensical arc that a child could go from rocking back and forth in a chair, not be able to communicate with his siblings, to him then being able to walk from a car and fight people. That in itself was prosperous, before we are even asked to swallow the fact that the same autistic kid became a accountant and an assassin.

And as you said, it wasn't a documentary. A film about an autistic child that didn't arc, would not have made for great fiction.

It needs to be plausible though. In Rain Main, Charlie Babbitt's character has an arc but there is reasoning and explanation for the subtle changes he undergoes. At the start of The Accountant we are deliberately invited into this kid's life and shown how he does not cope with unpredictability, like most children with autism. Then we see him thrive because his father makes him train in martial arts. I mean, wtf? That ain't no 'spider bite'. There was logic in Spiderman. This film is completely devoid of it. How it has received even mediocre reviews I do not know.

Avatar MIA

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

You mean the stimming with heavy metal music and strobe lighting?

You mean a radioactive spider bite cannot turn someone into a super hero?

The choice of accountant obviously draws on the stereotypes of the perception of practice accountants, it's an exaggeration - no one could have dissected 15 or so years of financial data overnight.

You mention rainman as a more laudable portrayal, there was very similar criticism of that movie from parents of autistic children because of the expectation of their children to be geniuses, which was very frustrating for them.

However, most of us don't have direct contact with autistic people and don't understand how frustrating a misrepresentation can be.

learn_more

This is a very well made ridiculous movie. And an unnecessarily long one at that.

Once I twigged that your man was going to turn out to be his long lost bro it turned into a big yawn onwards. ( At the point he shot at him when afleck was following him in the street but I think that idea was brewing in my mind before that ) . I always find if you can guess plot twists if you could call it that before your supposed too it's not a good sign.

I kept thinking the suspense was working up to something really good for the second half, but that didn't materialize.

By the last quarter I though okay well lets just enjoy a good shoot out but that ended up being a bit farcical and too lovey dovey to be credible.

The last line from Affleck when he say's 'i'll find you' is such and old trope.

The biggest problem with this movie is the un-credibility of the main character. I didn't know if I was watching a Marvel production or a spin-off from the Bourne franchise. I'm guessing The Accountant II was in the production line but probably cancelled due to lack of bums on seats.

Avoid this movie if your expecting to see a really good movie. |If you've nothing better do then go ahead.

Frank O. Pinion

learn_more wrote: »

I'm guessing The Accountant II was in the production line but probably cancelled due to lack of bums on seats.

What? It's earned a sequel, if they want to make one.

Budget: $44 million.
Box Office: $148.6 million.

CiDeRmAn

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

You mean the stimming with heavy metal music and strobe lighting? How would any of that turn a severely autistic child (and that's how he was protrayed in the early scenes of the film) to being able to then go on to become an account? Severely autistic children / adults that behave in that manner don't even understand the concept of money for heaven sake. My sister for example says that everything costs 10p. She sees no humour in that, even though everyone else will find it funny. You can show one behavior and then expect us not to question why they suddenly improved cognitively.

The point is, they had an amalgamation of all sorts of behaviors associated with points on the autism spectrum and then created this nonsensical arc that a child could go from rocking back and forth in a chair, not be able to communicate with his siblings, to him then being able to walk from a car and fight people. That in itself was prosperous, before we are even asked to swallow the fact that the same autistic kid became a accountant and an assassin.



It needs to be plausible though. In Rain Main, Charlie Babbitt's character has an arc but there is reasoning and explanation for the subtle changes he undergoes. At the start of The Accountant we are deliberately invited into this kid's life and shown how he does not cope with unpredictability, like most children with autism. Then we see him thrive because his father makes him train in martial arts. I mean, wtf? That ain't no 'spider bite'. There was logic in Spiderman. This film is completely devoid of it. How it has received even mediocre reviews I do not know.

I have worked with people on the autism spectrum, as a nurse and a nurse manager for the past 27 years and I saw relatively little implausible though plenty cruel about the making of the man we see in the film.
When we know someone on the spectrum we only know one person on the spectrum. Some traits and presentations may be common between two people but others may be different.
Some folk on the spectrum are alongside us everyday, as family and workmates, other times the condition can present with crippling sensory processing issues and/or an intellectual disability.
Some have a sense of humour but may take time to understand certain types, what is innate in neurotypical people must be deliberately learned by some one on the spectrum, or not at all.
The techniques used by Afflecks character, the noise and light, were designed to generate stress, the roller was not for pain but for deep pressure, which allows him to remain calm. In this it is wrong, as deep pressure techniques normally work with joint compression, weighted vests and massage with a fine brush.
But the idea was sound otherwise, the fact the character hurts himself with the roller later on indicated this method has failed.
I see people on the spectrum bonding with others all the time, so his bond with the female protagonist is unsurprising too, as his his awkwardness and missing the social queues that would have led the typical hero to share a moment of passion.
His character defaulted to the sense of honour that his father programmed into him, as well as the code instilled into him by the Tambour character. The events around the latter "broke" the hero and resulted in him becoming The Accountant, and the relationship that develops between him and law enforcement.
His use of violence served him primarily in his military duty and was controlled. Post this he maintained his skills, as his father had taught him, later becoming an accountant, but the events around Tambours character caused this to fracture and we see him bringing his "particular set of skills," to bear.

As people who start rocking back and forth in a chair, I would direct you to Loving Lampposts, an excellent film about people on the spectrum, children and adults, who often start from just such a place and in the adult cases, develop into men and women, still on the spectrum, but capable of a fulfilling life, career and a family.

Slydice

SEQUEL!!!
A Sequel To The Accountant Is In The Works
http://www.empireonline.com/people/ben-affleck/sequel-accountant-works/

Of the films that managed to make a profit last year, we weren't expecting that Ben Affleck-starring crime thriller The Accountant would be one to spawn a sequel. Warner Bros. clearly thinks differently, and the studio is in the midst of re-assembling the actor plus director Gavin O'Connor and other filmmakers to put together a second outing.

Nervous Wreck

Slydice wrote: »

SEQUEL!!!
A Sequel To The Accountant Is In The Works
http://www.empireonline.com/people/ben-affleck/sequel-accountant-works/

Excellent!

good movie. a bit different which made it interesting. hopefully a sequel will hold up well.

Avatar MIA

""Month End 2. The Accruing"

Mickeroo

The film pretty much spent the last 15 minutes trying to set up a franchise I thought so this isn't surprising. I'm not sure how I feel about a new x-men series where everyone's super power is autism though