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My first impression of The Accountant was that Ben Affleck now looks remarkably like Robert McNamara. It is difficult to tell whether or not this is deliberate as the plot unfolds. In brief, the film is a fairly standard damsel-in-distress story. However, Affleck’s intriguing character thankfully manages to bring a degree of  nuance to a familiar plot.

Christian Wolff (Affleck) is an accountant with severe Asperger’s Syndrome who likes to adopt somewhat unorthodox clients. Behind the innocuous windows of the aptly named ‘ZZZ Accounting’, Wolff takes care of books containing accounts on dangerous criminal organisations, (it seems) for his own amusement.. The director of financial crimes in the US Treasury, Ray King, (a hilariously miscast JK Simmons) recruits a young dame (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who he inexplicably has dirt on, to investigate the suspicious activity. Meanwhile, Wolff gets a call to check out dodgy dealings in a robotics firm and is introduced to their in-house accountant (Anna Kendrick). The two accountants share a few furtive glances and suddenly a hitman is pursuing them both. Aaaaaand we’re off…

The story works best when it focuses on Wolff. Through various flashbacks, we learn of his difficult childhood with a father who firmly believed that exposure to “the real world” is a necessity for survival. However, the film attempts to tie this excellent piece of humanisation into the modern day story in the third act, which doesn’t hold up very well at all. Think a messier version of Slumdog Millionaire crossed with The Raid. To a further extent, Simmons’ character is entirely extraneous until a lengthy scene two-thirds through which attempts to integrate him. Unfortunately, Simmons’ signature gruffness isn’t utilised nearly enough. In a similar case of poor writing, Kendrick’s role as love interest is frankly boring and devoid of any action. The conclusion’s dramatic revelation is nonsensical enough to prompt a roar of laughter from the audience.

The Accountant could have been an excellent in-depth analysis of Asperger’s Syndrome and its effects on the social psyche. By dressing it up as a thriller and adding some cliché characters, the potential glimpsed at the beginning was sadly lost.