Reporter

 The best movie in theatres right now is “The Accountant,” a rated R action thriller starring Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal, and JK Simmons. Despite the fact that I do not generally consider myself a fan of Ben Affleck this is his best movie in years, in my opinion beating out Oscar winner “Argo” and here is why.

 The action thriller genre has been growing stagnant as of yet with both the latest Bourne and Bond films falling short of expectations and the Taken series having not been noteworthy since the first one. With superheroes, space operas, and serial young adult series taking the bulk of critical and commercial success for movies as of late, “The Accountant” gives the action thriller a chance to shine again with a much needed shot of personality, creativity, and even warmth, all while being R rated.

 In the film Ben Affleck’s character is a focused and highly skilled man who has trouble understanding human behavior. He is by all appearances a sobering accountant who works next to a laundromat, who itemizes deductions for suburban and rural couples. On the weekend he works the books for cartels, gangs, and terrorists all over the world. He’s also autistic and had his father train him in his childhood in all manners of combat and paramilitary operation.

 The plot of the film is the outcome of what happens when he encounters the dangerous people he routinely works while working with a legitimate business, all the while the US Treasury Department hunts him down.

 The tone of the film is unique. Action thrillers are known for their tense tone, every minute rolls into the next giving their audiences little time to breathe.

 “The Accountant” is different, there is a surprising amount of humor, most from Affleck’s character being limited in his grasp of humor and other characters pointing it out or working off of it. It takes an about an hour for the audience to get used to this sense of humor and the films quirky use of awkward jokes and anti-jokes, but once used to, the payoff is very rewarding.

 Speaking of the first hour, someone walking into the theatre the first hour would be surprised to find out what they were watching was a rated R film. The first hour contains almost no violence, no gore, mild language, and no sex or nudity (there is no sex or nudity in the film anyway, sorry Ben Affleck fans.)

 The fact that the movie is R rated seems like a marketing tactic, as only the number of f bombs make it enough to be R rated, as the violence in the second half could still be PG-13 except for one second of mild gore.

 All that being said the movie is still an action thriller and handles mature and serious themes the bulk of the time, and there is a lot of well-choreographed action and violence the second half.

 Ben Affleck does a rather impressive job portraying a modern action hero with autism who is still believable and endearing despite his difficulties interacting with others.

 Jon Bernthal known for playing murderous criminals does just that in this film, though with a twist. JK Simmons known for playing men in positions of authority, plays a man in a position of authority, also with a twist. Anna Kendrick tries, but her character is a standard damsel in distress who hits bad guys with household objects until she is cornered and rescued by the hero cliché that has been around for 30 years. The “villains” of the movie are rather surprising for most action thrillers as they are atypical, morally ambivalent, and add a nice set of twists of their own to the film.

The final act of the film has a lull of people sitting around and talking about their lives for 20 minutes that probably could have been handled better, and the finale of the film is rather anti-climactic, overly familiar, and somewhat predictable for adults (R rated film) who have seen a good amount of movies before.

 Nonetheless, the movies is well shot, well-acted, and well edited. You will hear every bullet’s impact, sonic boom, casing, and weapon slide in a  theatre.

 The film clearly uses its influences from Bourne, Bond, Taken, and even Golgo 13 for you Japanese fans; to make something new yet refined, fresh yet familiar, cool yet warm.

  The film cleverly sets itself up for sequels/prequels due to the main characters exciting and dangerous lifestyle, and unlike other clunkier attempts, not at the expense of this films plot or character development, there are no dropped plot threads, no to be continued, no obnoxious future plot loading that you see in most franchises of late (i.e. Thanos, Snoke, etc). Just a well-made and well executed premise that I would like to see more of.

  With all that being said, I give “The Accountant” —4 Matt Damon’s out 5. Go watch it.