THE ACCOUNTANT 2 (2025)

April 24, 2025

Greetings again from the darkness. As disappointing as most sequels are, there is a glimmer of hope when the original creative team and key cast members return. Such is the case with this sequel to the 2016 film, THE ACCOUNTANT (yes, it’s been nearly a decade). Director Gavin O’Connor and writer Bill Dubuque are back, and both have skins on the wall. O’Connor also directed MIRACLE (2004) and the criminally underrated WARRIOR (2011), while Dubuque was the creator of the hit series “Ozark”.

Two-time Oscar winner Ben Affleck returns as the brilliant and autistic accountant known as Christian Wolff (as well as a few other names). In what may be the least amount of screen time ever afforded a previous Oscar winner, JK Simmons’ Ray King – former director of FinCEN is assassinated, and his former protégé MaryBeth Medina (a returning Cynthia Asdai-Robinson) tracks down Christian to help solve the case. But, of course, things are never that easy, and they also find themselves knee deep in another case – one that hits mighty close to real world headlines with human trafficking and gang activity.

Christian contacts his lethal-weapon brother … yep, for the first time since the end of the first film … and Braxton (Jon Bernthal) reluctantly agrees to join the hunt. The two brothers interact in a manner we’re familiar with from all the ‘mismatched buddy films’ over the years, and Affleck and especially Bernthal excel at this, although it’s impossible not to note Affleck’s too-frequent smirks this time around. An early speed-dating sequence feels totally forced and out-of-place, and one can only assume it’s included for anyone who didn’t watch the first movie (which I highly recommend prior to viewing this one).

As good as the brother banter plays, the mish-mashed stories, lack of central villain, and over abundance of action sequences, turn this into a film trying too hard to please all audiences. Toss in extended segments featuring the autistic techno geniuses at Harbor Neuroscience Academy, and a description of Acquired Savant Syndrome, and the best advice is to just sit back and watch after turning off your own plot-solving brain cells. Christian has developed and funded the group of young geniuses at the Academy, and they are led by non-verbal Justine (played by Allison Robertson, and computer-voiced by Alison Wright of “The Americans”). The missing persons case centers around highly-trained assassin Anais (Daniella Pineda from the Jurassic World franchise), and we can’t help but think she could hold her own as a story and character.

The abundance of comedic elements might surprise fans of the first film, as might the war zone style shootout during the film’s climax and the overly-animated Affleck – all extremes when compared to the original, yet Affleck and Bernthal make the brotherly thing work

Opens in theaters on April 25, 2025

WATCH THE TRAILER

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Posted by David Ferguson

ASK FOR JANE (2019)

May 16, 2019

 Greetings again from the darkness. Sometimes the message of a movie is so much more important than the production quality that we can look past the ‘how’ that would normally make watching a chore, and instead focus on the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ to find enlightenment. Writer-director Rachel Carey’s first feature film, co-written with Cait Cortelyou, tells the fascinating story of The Jane Collective … also known as ‘The Janes’ and ‘The Abortion 7’. It’s yet another true life story that finds us asking ourselves, “How have I never heard of this before?”

The film opens in 1972 when abortion was still illegal. The camera focuses on women in a jail cell … women that seem quite out of place behind bars. We then flashback 4 years to a dorm room in Chicago, and female students are discussing the predicament of one of their friends. This leads to the development and early stages of the Jane Collective, a secret organization to assist women in obtaining counseling and abortion. This was a time when not only was abortion illegal, but doctors would often speak directly to a husband about medical options for their wife, leaving the women with little information and no power to make their own decisions. The film touches on just how desperate women were. Rat poison, self-punches to the gut, razor blades, knitting needles, and even jumping off roofs were all used as ‘solutions’ to a situation for which they were only half responsible.

Now depending on your views, you may find abortion unacceptable. This underground abortion network assisted 11,000 women between 1968 and 1973, when Roe vs. Wade legalized the procedure. This landmark legal decision put an end to the Janes, as well as the back alley con artists and dangerous methods women previously used. Co-writer Cait Cortelyou stars as Rose, a character based on the real life Heather Booth, a hero to many. Supporting roles are covered by Cody Horn, Chloe Levine, Sarah Steele, Ben Rappaport, Sophie von Hasleberg, Alison Wright, Danny Flaherty, and Michael Rabe (son of the late Oscar winning actress Jill Clayburgh). Judith Arcana, a real life Jane, has a cameo and was a consulting producer on the film.

With a budget of only $250,000 raised (fittingly) through grass roots donations, the film is not a slick Hollywood production; however, these are women from recent history who deserve to be recognized and remembered for their courage and commitment. Women were forced to look out for each other, and these women certainly stepped up. With the recent legal attention being brought back to the topic of abortion, this story is quite timely, despite having taken place 50 years ago. How sad.

watch the trailer:

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Posted by David Ferguson