ArcaMax

"The Accountant" was a zinglessly titled Ben Affleck crime thriller that came out nine years ago, did OK at the box office, and left no buzz behind. No one was crying out for a sequel, and yet here we have one. And the surprising thing about "The Accountant 2" is how much fun it is. If you were planning to go see "The Amateur" or "A Working Man" at the 'plex this weekend, let me save you a letdown.

As with the first film, "A2" focuses on a mob accountant named Christian Wolff, an autistic numbers cruncher who can launder huge stashes of ill-gotten cash in his obsessive mind. This may not sound entertaining, but it definitely is. (A math-happy pizza audit is one of the film's best scenes.) Along with being a numbers nerd, Wolff is also a martial-arts badass and a dead shot with anything attached to a trigger. (His disapproving dad was an army psyops officer.) In short, this is a guy you don't want to cross; and yet, inevitably, some doomed soul is always trying to do exactly that.

First time out with Wolff we learned that he has a non-autistic brother named Braxton (Jon Bernthal) who is just as lethal as his estranged sibling and, unbeknownst to Christian, works as a freelance international assassin. We also met Ray King (J.K. Simmons), a top agent at the FBI's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and his hotshot protege Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). King and Medina were both on Wolff's tail; Braxton was sniffing around the edges of the plot on his way to a family reunion.

"A1" was a tough little crime flick, regardless of what you may have heard to the contrary. "A2" is quite different. Where the first film made room for feelings -- about childhood trauma, crippling loneliness and suchlike -- most of the feelings in the new one emanate from a conk on the head or a bullet in the brainpan. But returning director Gavin O'Connor and writer Bill Dubuque have also made room for a lot of laughs and even more action. (This movie has some of the best stunt work outside of a "John Wick" flick -- too bad that new stunt Oscar category doesn't kick in until 2028.)

The story has a lot going on. It opens, a bit confusingly, with a bad-guy assault on a bingo hall where Ray King is huddling with a mysterious hit girl named Anais (Daniella Pineda). Then we're off to New Hampshire for a visit to the "neuroscience academy" where Wolff was raised and where he still recruits the autistic teens who assist him in his missions. Along the way, Texas beckons, there's some unexpected seafood action, and Wolff and brother Braxton, after many years apart, finally come face to face. ("You look good," says Braxton. "I know," says his sibling, a stranger to small talk.)

The chemistry between Affleck and Bernthal is so strong -- even with Affleck playing a character with the personality of a fire hydrant -- that it easily fuels most of the movie. The filmmakers know the action audience and know what they want. As Braxton puts it, "Is there anything in this world better than punching somebody in the face who's got it coming?"

I see an "A3" in our future.

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To find out more about Kurt Loder and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com.

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