‘The Accountant 2’ movie review: Adds up to a fairly good time

The Accountant 2: Ben Affleck’s second outing as the savant number-cruncher for the mob is a straightforward action thriller, packed with super tech, muscle cars, evil cartel bosses, flying bullets, and zinging chemistry between Affleck and Jon Bernthal

An assassin, Anaïs (Daniella Pineda), walks into a bar to meet Raymond King (J.K. Simmons), a former Treasury agent. He tells her he needs help finding a missing Salvadoran family and is then killed in the ensuing shootout. Treasury agent and King’s protégée, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), finds King’s body with “Find the Accountant” scrawled on his arm.

Meanwhile, Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), aka the Accountant, has gamed the dating app system and finds himself at a singles night, baring his teeth in what he imagines to be a pleasant smile. Though skeptical, Medina contacts Wolff, who ropes in his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) for backup. Braxton is still a lethal assassin, despite being two weeks away from adopting a corgi puppy (aww) and sharing stories about the well-paid terrier from The Wizard of Oz with the lady at his job site.

Chris, who is on the spectrum and brilliant with numbers, works as an accountant for dangerous people around the world. He stays one step ahead of the villains with help from Justine (Allison Robertson, Alison Wright, voice), whom he met as a boy at the Harbor Neuroscience Academy.

The hunt for the Salvadoran family pits the trio against human traffickers and all-around bad guys, including Burke (Robert Morgan), Cobb (Grant Harvey), and Batu (Andrew Howard).

While not as tightly written as 2016’s The Accountant, and therefore not quite as fun, The Accountant 2 shines in scenes where Bernthal and Affleck riff off each other. Shifting the focus away from Affleck’s autistic accountant makes the sequel feel more like a standard action flick.

The sequel also suffers from several inexplicable plot points. Unlike the original, where Medina’s methodical tracking of Christian felt detailed and believable, this film skips over key motivations, starting with why King spent his retirement searching for this one family.

Christian’s back-story and where he got his particular set of skills added layers of authenticity to the character while helping in the world building.