Ben Affleck stars as a “vaguely on the cinematic autism spectrum” math super genius and secret criminal mastermind in The Accountant. Affleck was, once upon a time, thought of as an utterly untalented leading man, but it’s more that he just has a limited range. He doesn’t sell charming and affable well, but he’s very good at brooding, obsessive, disconnected seriousness, and he gets to be all of those things in the above trailer.
The story here doesn’t look far removed from a bunch of things we’ve seen before. Barely skimming the surface, this looks like it covers the same general terrain The Counselor covered just a few years back, only this looks far more accessible to the general public, and will feature 100% less woman-on-windshield sex action. But the lead character’s unique genius gives it a different angle, even if that “different” angle is just A Beautifully Mind with the thriller elements being real and not hallucinatory.
A Beautiful Criminal Mind, you say? I’ll allow it.
Co-starring Anna Kendrick, J.K. Simmons and John Lithgow and Jon Bernthal, The Accountant comes to theaters on October 14th.