The Accountant 2 (Amazon) Movie Review (2025)

Affleck's atypical assassin accepts a belated Bernthal-centric second mission, in what really should have been an easier franchise in the making for the Gavin O'Connor / Ben Affleck duo.

Almost a decade ago, Warrior's writer/director Gavin O'Connor embarked upon a fairly fruitful new union with Ben Affleck, who was going through a pretty tough period, yielding an unexpectedly, unusually, enjoyable romp in 2016's The Accountant, an autism-bent study of a forensic accountant who is also pretty nifty with a longarm and practices pencak silat. The result was effective, teasing the late stage introduction of a mercenary brother, played by Jon Bernthal, and room for more action adventures involving these two awkward estranged siblings.

Despite immediately announcing a sequel, it took an insane amount of time to even agree whether it was going to come in the form of a film or TV series, let alone pin down the script, with O'Connor and Affleck making the tremendous, and clearly very personal, Finding the Way Back in the interim, eventually spinning up an Accountant sequel in fairly short order, turning it around in little over 12 months to release, and earning a commensurate quick home digital release on Amazon Prime - in just 6 weeks from theatrical - undoubtedly as a result of its Amazon/MGM backing. Nevertheless, it's a win for those who missed it at the flicks.

... room for more action adventures involving these two awkward estranged siblings

Eight years after Christian Wolff disappeared, his former Treasury Department contact, Director Raymond King, finds himself in trouble, leaving a message for his protégé Marybeth Medina, the new FinCEN Director, to "find the accountant", drawing the elusive and socially uncomfortable man back into the fray for a messy case involving a missing family and a bunch of nasty killers, eliciting the help of his still-estranged brother, Braxton, to complete the undertaking.

Whilst it's a little jarring knowing the - acknowledged - 8+ year gap in the narrative, The Accountant 2 gets up to speed pretty quickly, establishing a complex mystery and some personal stakes in the shape of JK Simmons' returning former Director Ray King, dabbling in a few sharp moments of inspired comedy (Christian at a speed dating event, Braxton prepping for an uncomfortable phone call), before settling into what clearly works the best for this saga - the pairing of Affleck and Bernthal as the world's most uncomfortable, unlikely, bickering buddy-buddy brothers-in-arms.

As soon as the two get together you find yourself forgetting the absence of the first film's Anna Kendrick (not that she wouldn't be welcomed back for a third), and realising that perhaps this Affleck/Bernthal chemistry was the teased highlight all along, and a refocus on that - as well as a much grittier narrative and darker endgame - could elicit even better results second time out.

Clocking in at over 2 hours, it's this chemistry that gets you through the extended build-up, weaving in a tale of laundered money that traces back to child trafficking, and a whole army of villains who you know the duo will eventually need to take up arms against, but really enjoying the quieter moments of awkwardness between the siblings while we make our way there. Affleck holds his own in the role - which is very different from what you'd normally expect from him - but the back-and-forth with Bernthal is what really sparks off his performance and ignites the film, and their trip to a bar is perhaps the sequel's non-action highlight. That you could happily envisage watching an entire road trip-style movie with this pair, getting drunk, bickering, reminiscing, awkwardly but curiously lovingly interacting, and obviously getting into trouble and fights along the way, is a testament to how strong this pairing is.

O'Connor also holds true to his autism / autistic savant predilections, doubling down on these elements this time out, bringing back Christian's cadre of gifted super-sleuths, and even unexpectedly adding the layer in for one of the story's core characters, to perhaps fantastical but still entertaining effect. It's not a perfect mix, trading only just a cut above straight-to-streaming fare; bottling up its major action beats for a blistering finale - in a fashion not wholly dissimilar to its forebear) but also feeling like it is most definitely gearing up for a further chapter which, really, would be very welcome indeed. Just, please, let's not wait another decade. In the meantime, this is recommended Friday Eve watch-it-at-home entertainment.

The Accountant 2 is on Amazon Prime Video UK from 5th June 2025 in 4K Ultra HD with HDR10+.

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