Hordes of horror films line up for Halloween and a sleigh full of Christmas movies arrive annually in December, but there is slightly less competition around the paper-pushing rite of Tax Day.
Yet on the heels of tax season, here is “The Accountant 2,” Gavin O’Connor’s sequel to the 2016 film that did not, exactly, leave audiences clamoring for another. But in a movie world where anything successful immediately gets a second one, “The Accountant 2” has the benefit of not having much to live up to. Just balancing the books a little would count as a win for “The Accountant 2.”
And by the low standards of the original, O’Connor’s film, an untidy thriller about a fastidious CPA ( Ben Affleck ) whose powers of deduction are enhanced by his autism, just succeeds at punching up the numbers for “The Accountant” in this belated follow-up.
It’s a role that was always an odd fit for Affleck. In a way, that’s the intention. Affleck’s Christian Wolff is a monotone bean counter who used to help criminal organizations launder money and clean their books. Now, he’s a combination of stickler and vigilante whose insight into tax filings and other paper trails helps him hunt down any clue. The best scene in “The Accountant 2” might be when he exposes a human trafficking scheme at a pizza company by rapidly calculating a dubious gap of underreported pizza box expenses. (There, if ever, is a reason to keep your receipts.)
Affleck, of course, has always been a more garrulous, charismatic screen presence. The role of savant wasn’t for him; it was for his “Good Will Hunting” co-star, Matt Damon. Here, though, he’s an emotionless android who speaks in clipped sentences and avoids eye contact. And while the “Rain Man” shtick of “The Accountant” always feels forced, you can tell Affleck is enjoying himself.
In “The Accountant 2,” that’s most true when he’s paired up with Jon Bernthal. He plays Wolff’s more outgoing and freewheeling brother, Braxton, who has a knack for bloody mayhem but harbors hurt feelings from his brother’s distance in recent years. The two make a fine action duo of opposites. The problem? It takes a long time in Bill Dubuque’s unhurried and disordered script to get to them.
The movie begins with a set piece of misdirection that adds to the muddled nature of the first act. Retired FBI financial crimes boss Raymond King (J.K. Simmons) is meeting someone at a restaurant who might help in his search for a family of Central American refugees. It’s a hit job, though, with snipers in position, and a separate, mysterious assassin (Daniella Pineda) lurking about. The scene ends with King’s body taken out with a message he’s written on his forearm: “Find the accountant.”
Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), King’s former protege and financial crimes deputy, takes up the case. She knows enough about Wolff to know how to summon him — not with a Bat signal, exactly, but by phoning a neurological research center in New England and leaving a message with a receptionist.
Wolff is living contentedly out of an Airstream RV, with an office back at the research center full of young autistic computer hackers. The scenes here are clunky and don’t always move the story along — there’s an aimless but moderately funny one of Wolff speed dating. But once Braxton shows up — another awkward and labored character introduction, by way of a “Wizard of Oz” surrounded by dead bodies — “The Accountant 2” clicks into idiosyncratic place.
What that place “The Accountant 2” occupies probably wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny, let alone an audit. For a movie about a detail obsessive, it’s curiously messy. But — and this might matter more — the film has a reasonably firm sense of just how serious and how knowingly silly a movie about an uber-talented accountant ought to be.
There is also just a wisp of real-life relevancy. By centering an accountant thriller on the fate of a migrant family, “The Accountant 2” might even be said to be timely. The Trump administration is in the midst of cutting IRS employees, some of whom, including acting commissioner Melanie Krause, have resigned in part over a decision to use IRS data to help deport undocumented immigrants. For departing IRS workers, “The Accountant 2” might just be the most cathartic movie of the year.
“The Accountant 2,” an Amazon MGM Studios release that opens in theaters Thursday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong violence, and language throughout. Running time: 125 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
