Gavin O'Connor Archives

Review: ‘The Accountant 2,’ starring Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda and J.K. Simmons

April 21, 2025

by Carla Hay

Jon Bernthal and Ben Affleck in “The Accountant 2” (Photo by Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios)

Directed by Gavin O’Connor

Culture Representation: Taking place in the United States and briefly in Germany, the action film “The Accountant 2” (a sequel to the 2016 movie “The Accountant”) features a predominantly white group of people (with some Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class, wealthy and the criminal underground.

Culture Clash: Christian Wolff, who works as an accountant for wealthy criminals, teams up with his younger brother Braxton to find a missing immigrant family and a mysterious assassin who is hunting human traffickers.

Culture Audience: “The Accountant 2” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the 2016 movie “The Accountant” and formulaic but well-acted action movies that have several comedic moments.

Daniella Pineda and J.K. Simmons in “The Accountant 2” (Photo by Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios)

“The Accountant 2” overcomes its predictable action formulas with a scene-stealing performance from Jon Bernthal. This overstuffed sequel is best enjoyed by viewers who’ve seen 2016’s “The Accountant.” “The Accountant 2” is more stylish and comedic.

Directed by Gavin O’Connor and written by Bill Dubuque (the same director/writer duo for “The Accountant”), “The Accountant 2” is much more of a cross-country road-trip buddy film than “The Accountant,” which had the title character as very much a loner protagonist, with most of the action taking place in the Chicago area. “The Accountant 2” had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The characters in the movie travel to various states, including Maine and California.

“The Accountant 2” assumes that viewers know about some of the spoiler information that was revealed in “The Accountant.” In “The Accountant,” Christian Wolff (played by Ben Affleck) is an accountant who works for wealthy criminals. Christian has a high-functioning form of autism. At the end of the movie (spoiler alert), Christian finds out that an assassin who was hunting him is his younger brother Braxton Wolff (played by Bernthal), who was estranged from Christian for several years.

Christian gets client work with help from a secretive operative named Justine (played by Allison Robertson), who was revealed in “The Accountant” to work at Harbor Neuroscience Academy in Hanover, New Hampshire. Justine, who has autism that makes her non-verbal, uses a voice translator device that makes her voice sound British (voiced by Alison Wright) as a way to disguise her identity. All of this background information is necessary to get the full context of the characters who are in “The Accountant 2.”

Seeing “The Accountant” also gives viewers an explanation for why Christian and Braxton are expert combat fighters. As shown in “The Accountant,” their strict and abusive father (played by Rob Treveiler) was a former U.S. Army officer in psychological operations. When Christian and Braxton were pre-teen children, he forced them to go through rigorous military training that he oversaw entirely himself. The mother of Christian and Braxton left the family because she could no longer tolerate the oppression that he was inflicting on her and her children.

In “The Accountant,” Christian was also being hunted by Ray King (played by J.K. Simmons), director of the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, with Ray tasking data analyst Marybeth Medina (played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to do most of the legwork in the investigation. Ray retired at the end of the movie, and it was implied that Marybeth would get a job promotion. In “The Accountant,” the chief villains were executives at a robotics company involved in financial fraud.

In “The Accountant 2,” the chief villains are human traffickers who exploit undocumented immigrants from Latin America. In the beginning of the movie, Ray is a private detective looking for a family of three undocumented immigrants from El Salvador who disappeared eight years ago when they entered the United States: Edith Sanchez; her husband Gino Sanchez (played by Abner Lozano); and their son Alberto Sanchez. Alberto (played by Yael Ocasio), who was 5 years old when the family disappeared, is now 13 years old.

On April 7, 2025, Ray is in a seedy bar somewhere in the Washington, D.C. area. It’s the type of dive bar where people are playing bingo in the scene where Ray goes there to meet a stranger for this investigation. Ray is meeting with a mysterious assassin/mercenary named Anaïs (played by Danielle Pineda), who apparently has important information on this missing persons case. Ray wants to hire Anaïs to find the missing Sanchez family.

The meeting between Ray and Anaïs has barely started when some armed goons, who work for the human traffickers, storm into the bar and cause a shootout that kills Ray. (This murder is already revealed in “The Accountant 2” trailers.) Anaïs is able to slip out of the bar unharmed, but surveillance video caught her on camera leaving the bar at the time of the shooting.

Marybeth is now deputy director of the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. When she finds out that Ray has been murdered and that he wrote “Find the Accountant” on his arm, she knows she has to find Christian again. Christian is currently an escaped convict who is a fugitive from the law. Marybeth finds Christian, of course.

Marybeth promises that she won’t arrest Christian if he helps her solve the mystery of Ray’s homicide. And as already revealed in trailers for “The Accountant 2,” Christian enlists the help of his brother Braxton. When they find out that Ray was looking for the missing Sanchez family, that becomes part of the investigation too. It’s a bit much and makes “The Accountant 2” at times very unfocused and messy.

Viewers will have to suspend a lot of disbelief in several of the movie’s scenes, particularly when it to comes to Marybeth, who acts more like a homicide detective than someone investigating financial crimes. “The Accountant 2” also does a terrible job of explaining how Marybeth is able to spend all of this time hanging out with Christian and Braxton with no supervision. Someone in her position would have to answer to a lot of people about her travel activities across the United States.

Marybeth becomes a frequently awkward third wheel to the bickering brothers Christian and Braxton, who are complete opposites of each other. Christian is methodical and stoic. Braxton is impulsive and emotional. Braxton is a very loose cannon with a bad temper, which predictably gets them into more trouble. Christian loses his temper too, but he’s more robotic about it.

Marybeth spends much of her time scolding Christian and Braxton, as if she didn’t know what she was getting into by teaming up with two violent criminals. “No more violence,” she tells Christian in a laughable part of the movie when he viciously beats a shady witness to get the witness to tell him certain information. Marybeth sees Christian and Braxton commit many crimes and eventually has to pretend that she never saw these crimes in order to continue working with Christian and Braxton.

“The Accountant 2” (which has Affleck as one of the producers) goes off on a few tangents to show that Christian is making an effort to “lighten up” and have more of a social life. As already seen in a trailer for “The Accountant,” Christian goes to Idaho for an event called the Boise Romance Festival, where he does speed dating for the first time. (The results are disastrous for Christian.) He has a much better time on the road trip with Braxton, when Christian does some country music line dancing at a bar.

The back-and-forth banter between Christian and Braxton is the most entertaining aspect of “The Accountant 2,” which has very generic and uninteresting villains. The human trafficking network’s operations in the Americas is led by Burke (played by Robert Morgan), who looks more like an accountant than the movie’s title character. Burke has a sleazy thug named Cobb (played by Grant Harvey), who does a lot of the dirty work that Burke doesn’t want to do.

Burke has a grudge against Anaïs because she ruined some of his human trafficking business almost two years ago. And just so the movie makes it clear that this human trafficking network extends beyond the Americas, Burke is seen making phone calls to the person he reports to: a mega-rich European named Batu (played by Andrew Howard), who gives the impression that it would be a major scandal in his high-society circles if people found out that much of Batu’s fortune comes from human trafficking. Batu’s presence in the movie just raises more questions that the movie doesn’t answer, because Burke and his crew seem awfully understaffed if they’re working for someone who is as wealthy and powerful as Batu.

The amusing scenes between Christian and Braxton follows a tried-and-true formula of many comedic male duos: One is the “straight man” who is calmer and more level-headed, while the other is the “wild one” who is more likely to go off the rails. One of the reasons why Braxton is the most interesting character in the movie is that even though he’s a ruthless killer, he has some neurotic quirks and some surprising vulnerabilities, especially when it comes to pet animals. (You’ll have to see “The Accountant 2” for more details.) The rest of the cast members’ performances are capable, but not outstanding.

“The Accountant 2” is one of those over-the-top action films where people who are outnumbered and outgunned still manage to fight their way out of situations. Just like in “The Accountant,” there’s a surprise twist involving someone’s identity. “The Accountant 2” invigorates what could have been a stale sequel by making Braxton a charismatic eccentric and a major part of the story. “The Accountant” franchise has now entered sequel territory, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the franchise spawns any spinoffs based on the Braxton character.

Amazon MGM Studios will release “The Accountant 2” in U.S. cinemas on April 25, 2025. A sneak preview was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 15, 2025.

Review: ‘The Way Back’ (2020), starring Ben Affleck

March 6, 2020

by Carla Hay

Ben Affleck (pictured in front, at far right) in “The Way Back” (Photo by Richard Foreman/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“The Way Back” (2020)

Directed by Gavin O’Connor

Culture Representation: Taking place in the beach city of San Pedro, California, the drama “The Way Back” has a racially diverse (white, Latino, African American) cast of characters representing the middle class.

Culture Clash: An alcoholic man, who was a star basketball player in high school, returns to his alma mater as a basketball coach while battling his addiction.

Culture Audience: “The Way Back” will appeal mostly to people who want to see stories about addiction or basketball (and there might be some curiosity over how the story compares to star Ben Affleck’s real-life personal problems), but the movie doesn’t show anything that hasn’t been done before in TV movies of the week.

Janina Gavankar and Ben Affleck in “The Way Back” (Photo by Richard Foreman/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Not to be confused with director Peter Weir’s Soviet gulag-escape drama “The Way Back” (which was released in 2010), the 2020 release of “The Way Back” (directed by Gavin O’Connor) is a drama about an entirely different struggle: alcoholism and coping with the death of a child. Ben Affleck plays Jack Cunningham, a lonely middle-aged guy who’s living a dead-end, self-destructive existence in San Pedro, California. In the beginning of the story, he has a job as a day laborer in construction. When he’s not on the job, he gets drunk at local bars before he heads home, where he lives by himself. Jack is obviously in a lot of emotional pain, but the story unfolds in layers over why he’s in turmoil and why he’s become an alcoholic.

On one of the many days that he’s woken up with a hangover, Jack unexpectedly gets a call to meet with Father Edward Devine (played by John Aylward), the head of Bishop Hayes High School, a Catholic school that is Jack’s alma mater. Father Edward asks Jack if he would like to be the head coach of the school’s basketball team. He’s up front in telling Jack that the team loses almost all of its games, but they could really use guidance from Jack, who was a star basketball player at the school from 1993 to 1995. It’s also the last period of time when the Bishop Hayes basketball team made it to the national finals.

Jack’s immediate reaction is to say no, but Father Edwards pleads with Jack to think it over and call him the next day with his decision. Before he makes that call, Jack spends some time rehearsing the words he’ll say to decline the offer. The next thing you know, Jack is being introduced to the team as the new head coach.

The assistant coach is Dan Espinosa (played by Al Madrigal), an algebra teacher at the school. Dan graduated from Bishop Hayes High School a few years after Jack did. When Dan was a basketball player in high school, he idolized Jack. Dan wasn’t a very good player back then (he mostly stayed on the bench), so he knows his limitations and is excited about working with Jack.

“The Way Back” has two very different trailers. The first trailer, which is the more accurate one, shows how much of a screw-up alcoholic Jack is and how he happens to coach a basketball team. The second trailer takes more of a “feel good” sports angle by playing up the basketball aspects of the movie. There are some thrilling basketball scenes in the film, but the movie is really about Jack’s turbulent journey as an alcoholic.

During the course of the movie, viewers find out that Jack has been separated from his wife Angela (whom he calls “Ange”) for more than a year. Jack has been an alcoholic for several years, but his marriage reached a breaking point after the 2017 death of their only child, an 8-year-old son named Michael. (How he died is revealed in the movie, and it’s an emotional trigger when something similar happens to someone on Angela’s side of the family.)

Jack’s main emotional support system comes from his younger sister Beth (played by Michaela Watkins) and her family, which consists of her husband and pre-teen son and daughter. Jack’s mother has recently moved in with Beth and her family. Over a Thanksgiving dinner that turns argumentative, long-simmering resentments come to the surface.

Jack is somewhat jealous that Beth is doing better in life than he is, and it adds to his feelings of self-loathing. Beth shows concern over Jack’s obvious drinking problem, but he thinks she’s overreacting and being a nag. He’s also annoyed because Angela has recently called Beth, not Jack, to check up on Jack to see how he’s doing.

Eventually, Angela (played by Janina Gavankar) meets with Jack in person to tell him news that he wasn’t expecting to hear: She has a new man in her life (his name is Nick), and her separation from Jack is probably going to lead to divorce. Jack is upset, but he channels his frustrations into his new job as a basketball coach.

As the team’s new coach, Jack is abrasive and prone to cursing a lot. He gets reprimanded multiple times for his foul-mouthed, short-tempered behavior by the team’s chaplain, Father Mark Whelan (played by Jeremy Radin), who’s there for spiritual guidance and to make sure that the team and the coaches follow the school’s moral code of conduct.

There are many expected scenes in the movie of Jack doing the “shouting coach” thing. There are also some basketball scenes using borderline hokey freeze-frames and slow-motion shots that give this film a “TV movie of the week” tone. It’s during the quieter moments, when Jack is alone and facing his demons, that the movie has more emotional resonance.

Under Jack’s leadership, the team predictably starts to win games (as seen in the movie’s trailers), but this isn’t a basketball movie drama like “Hoosiers,” “Blue Chips” or “Glory Road” (all featuring “tough love” coaches), where the biggest thing at stake is a basketball championship. In “The Way Back,” the biggest thing at stake is Jack’s physical and emotional health. As such, the basketball players’ individual personalities aren’t given as much screen time as you might think they would get.

There are some standout players on the team. Brandon Durrett (played by Brandon Wilson), a withdrawn loner, is the most talented player and Jack’s favorite. As the team starts to win more games, Brandon comes out of his shell and gains confidence. He starts to think that he might have a shot at a college scholarship and possibly the big leagues of the National Basketball Association.

However, Brandon’s father Russ (played by T.K. Carter) never goes to see his son play and isn’t very supportive of Brandon’s basketball dreams. When Jack goes to visit Russ at his shrimp fishery job to encourage him to support Brandon, Russ brushes Jack off and tells Jack that basketball is a long-shot, short-lived career that will only disappoint Brandon. He wants to see his son succeed in a job where he won’t be considered “washed-up” by the time he’s in his 40s.

Other players on the team whose personalities are distinct are Marcus Parrish (played by Melvin Gregg), the team’s cocky showoff; sharpshooter Kenny Dawes (played by Will Ropp), who’s a ladies’ man; Chubbs Hendricks (played by Charles Lott Jr.), an overweight guy who’s predictably the team jokester; Sam Garcia (played by Fernando Luis Vega), the guy most likely to give pep talks to the other players; and Bobby Freeze (played by Ben Irving), who’s a solid team player.

In doing publicity for “The Way Back,” Affleck has given candid interviews about the parallels between him and the Jack Cunningham character. Over the past several years, Affleck has been open about his addiction issues (alcoholism and gambling), which were among the reasons for his messy divorce from actress Jennifer Garner, the mother of their three kids. During filming of “The Way Back,” Affleck publicly had a relapse in his alcoholism. And “The Way Back” director O’Connor says that Affleck had a breakdown during a scene in the movie where Jack meets with Angela and confronts his issues. The scene got so emotionally raw, says O’Connor, that he had to cut most of it out of the film.

Although that scene between Jack and Angela is emotional, it’s a lot more muted than what it could be. It didn’t have to be melodramatic, but it’s not a moment where people in the audience will gasp or get so emotionally moved that they’ll start crying—a reaction that happened a lot in the big confrontation scene between the estranged spouses in the 2019 film “Marriage Story,” writer/director Noah Baumbach’s award-winning divorce drama.

Affleck does a very good job in the role, but the movie’s weakest link is that it’s a predictable script (written by Brad Ingelsby) that handles the subject matter in a way that’s been done so many times before in movies and TV shows. That predictability is one of the reasons why it might be difficult to convince people to pay full price to see this movie in a theater. People might be more inclined to wait until “The Way Back” can be seen on a small screen. However, “The Way Back” isn’t a bad way to spend a couple of hours watching a serviceable drama. It’s just not the most essential film about basketball coaches or alcoholism.

Warner Bros. Pictures released “The Way Back” in U.S. cinemas on March 6, 2020.

UPDATE: Because of the widespread coronavirus-related closures of movie theaters worldwide, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has moved up the digital and VOD release of “The Way Back” to March 24, 2020.