The Accountant
2016 · Directed by Gavin O'Connor
Original language: English
- crime
- thriller
- drama
The story
As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities and the body count starts to rise.
What it’s like
Cool, desaturated blues and greys dominate, with flat fluorescent office light giving way to dim motel rooms and rain-slick industrial yards. Gavin O'Connor's camera is mostly steady and composed, favouring tight two-shots and measured cutaways to ledgers and spreadsheets, then snapping to handheld jolts when violence arrives. Gunfire is sharp and sudden, with brief but brutal bursts of bloodshed rather than lingering gore. Bill Dubuque's script moves in a brisk, puzzle-box rhythm, and the score leans on tense, pulsing strings and synth-tinged undercurrents that stay under the surface. The emotional register is cool and clinical with a dry, occasionally wry humour, while the central figure, a withdrawn man who experiences the world through numbers and rigid routine, slowly and warily allows a few people closer. Violence is frequent and sometimes graphic in its impact, with shootings, fight scenes and some sexual innuendo, so it suits viewers who want a tense, adult thriller rather than something gentle. For people who enjoy procedural suspense, precise character studies and the chill of a quiet man who is very good at dangerous things.
More films like The Accountant
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved The Accountantand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
