Friday, October 14, 2016

The Accountant

Ben Affleck plays the title character. Just so happens that his job is a cover for his other job, assassin. And he is very good at both. He is also on the autism spectrum, so his ability to see patterns and numbers, and his ability to pay attention to important details seems to be enhanced by that. And his ability to act without emotional investment is key to his personality and success. The film was well constructed and well acted. And it did make me think. How is this character different than Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher. Those are also effective action heroes, very good at their job of noticing details and killing without emotion. But this accountant character has his strength seeded in his autism. And it feels different. So it made me think about stereotypes, rationalization of violence and justification of actions. I don't know where this thinking goes, but it is rattling around my head. It is also all this thinking that promotes this from 'movie' status to 'film'.
4 stars (out of 5)

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