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

THE WAY BACK (2020)

March 5, 2020

 Greetings again from the darkness. So much beer and booze. It would be easy to classify this latest from writer-director Gavin O’Connor as a sports movie. After all, he has given us two excellent ones in MIRACLE (2004) and WARRIOR (2011). However, as with those two films, there is much more going on here. This is about grief and addiction, and the difficulties in mending a life in tatters.

Jack Cunningham likes his morning shower. It helps get him prepared for a day of construction work and get over a late night of drinking. What’s unusual about his morning routine is that he drinks a beer while taking his morning shower, and then fills his Yeti with gin as he takes his post at the building site. Jack is played by Ben Affleck, who has returned to the screen with a serious acting gig after his fling as Batman. Of course, anyone who even casually keeps up with Hollywood gossip knows Mr. Affleck and his character here have in common a drinking problem. In fact, the actor filmed this immediately after his latest rehab stint. It’s quite possible that the collision of real life and fiction explain why this is Affleck’s best performance in many years (at least since HOLLYWOODLAND in 2006). He re-teams here with O’Connor, who directed him in THE ACCOUNTANT (2016).

As a former high school basketball star, Jack’s life has turned out much differently than expected. His construction job is beating him down, alcohol abuse is slowly destroying him, and he recently split with his wife Angela (Janina Gavankar) after a tragedy. Has he hit rock bottom? It’s likely he thinks so. As happens so often in life, an opportunity presents itself. The head Priest at his former catholic high school asks him to step in as basketball coach after the current coach has a heart attack. The team is terrible, and has been that way since Jack graduated 25 years ago. After a painful-to-watch evening of decision-making, Jack accepts the job.

As you would expect, it’s a team of misfits who have little concept of teamwork. Affleck excels as a coach who evaluates the talent he has and devises a strategy to not only improve individual player performance, but also inject the philosophies of teamwork and cohesion and commitment. He does this with the help of Algebra teacher slash Assistant Coach Dan (Al Madrigal, “I’m Dying Up Here”), who appreciates what Jack brings to the position, but is also protective of the boys and the school mission.

Jack manages to stay sober while coaching, but we see how fine that line is for an addict. Life suddenly rears up and plops down an emotional situation that is simply too much form him to handle. It’s here when we realize that while it appeared coaching the team gave Jack a glimmer of hope for a better life, it also allowed him to ignore the personal issues and relationships that had driven him to the bottle. The basketball scenes are the most fun to watch, but it’s the realistic life elements that elevate the story. It’s excruciating to watch Jack re-telling glory days stories to his ‘buddies’ at the local neighborhood bar, only to be helped home by the same old man who used to carry his father home from the same bar. The perpetuation of misery is a story that is all too relatable for many.

Jack’s good qualities are evident when he’s prodding ultra-quiet point guard Brandon (Brandon Wilson) into taking on a leadership role and thinking of his future, but that’s contrasted with his inconsiderate treatment of his sister Beth (Michaela Watkins) and Father Mark (Jeremy Radin), the team/school Chaplain. It’s the two sides of Jack that so clearly resonate with those who have experienced addiction. This is a guy who botched his college/basketball opportunity, but managed to build a new life, only to have it snatched away in the cruelest way possible. It’s imperative that he come to grips with all of that in some place other than the bottom of a beer mug.

The outstanding screenplay comes from Brad Ingelsby (OUT OF THE FURNACE, 2013), and with director O’Connor and the cast, the film has a throwback to the 70’s feel … gritty and realistic. This is not the smirking, strutting stud we are accustomed to seeing with Affleck. He seems immersed in the role and brings an understanding to the struggles, the rehab, and the importance of a support system. Redemption played a huge part in the classic HOOSIERS (1986) and most every other rag-tag sports team in movies, and THE WAY BACK shows us there really is no going back … instead, we must deal with life in order to move on.

watch the trailer:

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Posted by David Ferguson

WARRIOR

September 12, 2011

 Greetings again from the darkness. It’s always a bit thrilling when a movie catches us off-guard and is much more than expected. Walking in, I was all set for a testosterone fueled fight fest featuring BS bravado and mounds of machismo. While that element is abundantly present, writer/director Gavin O’Connor wraps the fighting around a pretty interesting story about family, bravery, desperation, pride and forgiveness.

The story begins with the convergence of a broken family – two brothers and their father. The split occurred many years ago, and without the details, we are able to piece together that dad (Nick Nolte) was a violent drunken ex-Marine and the mother planned to take the two boys and run. One of the brothers (Joel Edgerton) had fallen in love and decided to stay with dad. The younger brother (Tom Hardy) went with mom and even nursed her through her final days of cancer prior to his joining the Marines. The three men have been incommunicado for years, until one day Tommy (Hardy) shows up on Nolte’s doorstep.

 What sets this one apart is the details of each of the brother’s stories, very little of which I will discuss here. There is a terrific scene on the Atlantic City beach where their demons confront each other and we see that so much pain and bitterness exists despite their having been teenagers at the time of the split. They each felt abandoned by the other. Now one is an angry ex-Marine and the other is a desperate physics teacher with a family. This story couldn’t possibly end any place other than smack in the middle of an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) cage fight!

 Their Dad (Nolte) had trained the boys as youth wrestlers and now a giant $5 million tournament is being held. Both brothers are carrying secrets and need money to solve their problems. Their secrets drive them to risk life and limb in the cage of this most brutal activity. To best describe these characters, Tom Hardy has the presence and physique of the guy you would never consider confronting in a bar fight. Joel Edgerton is the kind that your buddies would egg you on thinking you could probably take him. Instead you would end up in the back of an ambulance.

 As expected, and shown in the trailer, the MMA tournament ends with the two brothers facing off and guilt-riddled dad watching from the crowd. Despite the rowdiness and violence of the fighting, very little blood is shown. That’s not what this movie is about. Instead we get many adrenaline-rushes from the spectacle of the fights, plus a split-screen montage of the training leading up to the big moment. This is a crowd-pleaser in the vein of The Fighter, but not quite as mainstream given the MMA element.

 The two leads were each on my list of favorite movies last year. Joel Edgerton was in the excellent and under-the-radar Animal Kingdom, while Tom Hardy was in the mega-hit Inception and will play Bane in the upcoming Batman film. In this film, Edgerton has more freedom with his character, but Hardy does a wonderful job of capturing the quiet intensity followed by roid rage in the ring. Most surprising is the fine job turned in by Nick Nolte. He really showed up for this one. Other support work comes from Jennifer Morrison, Kevin Dunn and Frank Grillo. We also see former Olympic wrester Kurt Angle as the terrifying Russian MMA machine Yoba, and writer/director Gavin O’Connor as JJ Riley, the millionaire sponsoring the tournament.

There will be comparisons made to both Rocky and The Fighter, and both make sense. It is not quite at that level, but don’t mistake this as some dumb fight movie made for teenage boys. There is a story and it provides further proof that men, no matter how hard they try, manage to screw up the whole family thing more often than not … but in the end, they do try their best to make things better!

SEE THIS MOVIE IF: you are up for a high intensity male-centric family drama with an abundance of testosterone OR you want to see the best Nick Nolte performance in years

SKIP THIS MOVIE IF: you prefer slow, weepy family dramas rather than the simmering explosions of male communication OR simply watching MMA is more violence than you care to take on

watch the trailer:

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Posted by David Ferguson