The popular consensus regarding Gavin O’Connor’s action thriller, The Accountant, is quite divisive; while some praise its intense, high-octane action sequences and Ben Affleck’s measured portrayal of the titular combat expert bookkeeper, others criticize the movie for showing a lack of sensitivity while dealing with the discourse of neurological disorders. While the movie itself is quite entertaining, if a bit predictable in all its twists and turns, it is understandable that the narrative choice of presenting mental ailments as offering an advantage in criminal enterprise and armed combat can be deemed problematic. But then again, it’s mainstream Hollywood action fare we are talking about, so it’s better to not go into it with misplaced expectations in the first place.
Anyway, viewers who loved The Accountant were expecting a sequel for the longest time, and nine years on from the release of the first entry, The Accountant 2 will hit theaters worldwide later this week. So let us go through every major character dynamic and plot point you need to remember and discuss what can be expected from the upcoming continuation as well.
Spoilers Ahead
Christian’s Rough Upbringing
The Accountant focuses on its neurodivergent, high-functioning autism-afflicted lead, Christian Wolff, who runs a small-time finance firm as a front while helping his high-profile global criminal clientele keep track of their money. Christian is a veritable genius with adept deductive, computative, and aptitudinal skills—which makes him a crazy good accountant—and has a near superhuman level of proficiency in the field of combat, which helps him evade detection and survive amidst some of the most notorious criminals worldwide. Christian, or at least that is the name he prefers to be known as, is otherwise a real loner, having difficulty socializing, bearing with a hyperactive mind, and maintaining a deliberate emotional disconnect with the people around him. As the beginning of the movie focuses on his childhood, it becomes clear what went into the making of a troubled, gifted man.
In 1989, a young Christian, accompanied by his parents and younger brother, Braxton, visited Harbor Neuroscience. Christian’s mother, Lauren, agreed with the institute’s director’s opinion that Christian needs to be raised in the caring environment of the institution. However, Christian’s father, a strict psychological operation army officer, deemed it wise to let his son face the hardships of life instead, so that the merciless world doesn’t get to take advantage of him. Christian, busy arranging a puzzle, that too from the backward side without seeing the image – because thats how much of a genius he is, ends up livid when he can’t track down the final piece. The director’s speech-impaired daughter, Justine, who also suffers from autism, helps Christian to calm down by finding and handing over the final piece.
Unable to cope with the challenging parenting ordeal, Lauren walked out on her family, leaving her husband with the responsibility of raising their two sons. Christian’s father showed his tough love to his sons by training them with the help of specialized combat and tactics experts from a young age and instilled a strong familial bond in them by teaching them to look out for each other. Christian served in the army and was sent on a covert mission as a prisoner in a detention center of Washington, DC, to track Al-Qaeda money launderers. At the prison, Christian befriended Francis Silverberg, a former legendary finance handler who worked for the mob. Francis helped Christian learn cues for socialization and also key details of money laundering and bookkeeping. Aside from his family, he was the only person Christian was ever able to form a strong bond with. However, Francis, who had surrendered himself to the feds for protective custody in exchange for intel, was released by the Treasury Department, who wanted to use him as bait to nab his pursuers, members of the Gambino crime family. Francis was tortured to death, and after the news reached Christian, he escaped from prison and killed every involved member of the crime family by tracking them down in their hideout. Much later, Lauren, who had turned a new page in her life by settling down with a new family, passed away, and Christian accompanied his father to pay his respects to her during her wake. For reasons unknown, a brawl broke out at the funeral, and as authorities arrived to get the situation under control, one of the cops unwittingly shot Christian’s father to death. This event marked an estrangement between Christian and his brother, Braxton, and a guilt-ridden Christian set out on his own to put his bookkeeping skills to good use.
Years later, at present, Christian is shown assisting a farmer couple get their way out of financial troubles. Christian lives a secluded, basic life in the calm suburbs and stashes his prized inventory—which includes various forms of payments he has received over the years from his clients, from expensive paintings to gold bars and rare comics—in a heavily guarded RV. It should be mentioned that Christian, who is mostly known by his underworld nickname, the Accountant, is assisted by an anonymous handler of sorts, who acts as a mediator between Christian and his clients and acts as a guide by sharing advice and strategies over comms. Christian’s life is far from normal still, as sordid memories of the past flash before his eyes. Rhyming the “Solomon Grundy” poem and punishing himself through visual and sensory stimulation every night are Christian’s coping mechanisms.
Medina’s Investigation: What Was Raymond King’s Connection With The Accountant?
Raymond King, director of the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, summons a low-level Treasury agent, Marybeth Medina, who has recently assisted her superiors in several cases but is not really ambitious, as she is unwilling to take promotions. King confronts Medina about hiding her secretive past of having a record of juvenile crime, which is a criminal offense for a federal employee. King proposes to Medina an offer to find out who the Accountant is before his retirement in exchange for saving her career.
Meanwhile, Christian gets his new assignment, as Rita Blackburn, sister of the CEO of Living Robotics, Lamar Blackburn, instructs him to audit the company’s financial records of the last 15 years to learn about possible financial discrepancies. Christian gets acquainted with Dana Cummings, the company’s accountant, who was the first to notice the discrepancies. Christian initially appears unwilling to initiate a conversation with Cummings, but eventually they connect over their nerdy finance talks. Christian discovers that over sixty million dollars have been stolen over the years, but before he can pinpoint the culprit, Lamar decides to pull the plug on the financial investigation after the death of CFO Ed Chilton at the hands of an unknown mercenary who runs his own private security firm.
In reality, it was Lamar himself who had embezzled the money and wanted to keep things under cover before taking the company public, which is why, after Christian’s discovery, he sent the mercenary to kill Ed Chilton and also instructed him to send men to take down Christian and Cummings to cover his tracks. Christian, who was busy practicing his aim at the ranch of the farmer couple, spots the merc crew threatening them and manages to eliminate them, but not before learning that Cummings’ life is in danger as well. Christian rescues Cummings just in time, and taking her to safety, reveals his true identity to her. A mild-mannered, friendly Cummings shares her past with Christian, mentioning how her father didn’t allow her to pursue arts out of concern for her career prospects. There is a noticeable spark of romance between Cummings and Christian, which is snuffed out as the latter retreats.
Suspecting Rita Blackburn to be the one responsible for putting out the hit, Christian decides to pay her a visit, only to briefly confront the mercenary leader without seeing his face and find out Rita has been murdered as well. Christian deduces Lamar to be the culprit and prepares to take him down once and for all to keep Cummings safe.
Meanwhile, Medina’s thorough investigation, involving linguistic experts and imagery analysis, ultimately allows her to identify Christian Wolff as their target, the infamous Accountant in question. Following a raid on Wolff’s house, Medina and King are able to confirm their suspicions, and Medina shares details of her past crime, as she had assaulted a drug dealer whose influence had put her sister in a bad place. King shares his past association with the elusive bookkeeper, and it appears, in some sense, he owes his life and career to the Accountant. As it turns out, it was King who used Francis as bait to trap the Gambino family and, after Francis’ death, kept a vigilant eye on the Gambino hideout. When Christian killed all those members of the mob family, King apprehended the situation and found himself at Christian’s gunpoint. However, Christian decided to spare his life after learning about his familial connection, and since then, the infamous Accountant has tipped off King about a major number of criminal activities—with the help of his anonymous associate. Impressed by Medina’s investigation, King wants to pass his mantle to her and advises her to take the Accountant’s help in the future, deeming it a necessary evil of sorts. However, Medina’s moral compass is rigid enough to refuse the director’s proposal.
Who Was the Mercenary Leader?
As Christian decides to take down Lamar, the final showdown ensues between the merc leader’s team and him at Lamar’s residence. Christian wipes out the entire team of mercs, and the leader is finally revealed to be none other than Christian’s younger brother, Braxton, who gets emotionally overwhelmed seeing his brother. The brothers reconcile after having a scuffle with each other, and Christian kills Lamar. Taking his RV, Christian leaves for elsewhere, but not before sending Cummings a Pollock portrait as a farewell gift.
Another well-guarded secret is revealed at the final moments of the movie, as the female associate assisting Christian is revealed to be none other than Justine, the autistic girl who had helped Christian to find the missing piece of the puzzle. She is the tech genius who guides Christian at every step. It was previously revealed that Christian donated a significant portion of his gains to Harbor Neuroscience, and the reason is revealed as a kind act of gratitude towards someone with whom he can relate the most.
What Can Be Expected From the Sequel?
As revealed in the trailer of the upcoming sequel, The Accountant 2, Christian and his brother, Braxton, will team up after being summoned by Medina, as a tragic incident leads to the Treasury Agent consider forming an alliance against common enemies. Justine will probably make a return too, as Christian’s associate, and Raymond King’s arc will probably play a crucial part in the plot.
