The Account was one of the surprise hits of 2016. Ben Affleck played Christian Wolff aka The Accountant. Wolff is an autistic accountant that proved to be more dangerous than the criminals he laundered money for.

Five years later, Affleck is back killing more people than he’s crunching numbers in The Accountant 2.

Set some time after the events of the first film, Raymond King (J.K Simmons) is retired and working on a missing persons case. Raymond is killed after meeting with a mysterious woman and all he left was a note on his arm that read “Find the accountant”. Treasury agent Marybeth (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) hunts down the elusive accountant and recruits him to help find Raymond’s killer and finish solving his missing persons case.

Operating outside the law, Wolff contacts his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) and his set of skills to help solve this puzzle.

Let’s be clear, the premise for The Account 2 is absolutely absurd. From the amount of crimes happening in the day time to people surviving fatal wounds, the film doesn’t take itself too serious. They’ve created a world where a neuroscience clinic for kids is a secret hub for kids that act like a counter terrorism task force using technology to take over drones and catch bad guys – those scenes play so fun and silly as if those kids aren’t breaking all the laws in the process.

The storyline about the missing woman is so ridiculous, when the big reveal happens it’s almost laugh out loud funny. Yet, somehow the film manages to mix these insane moments and make something fun and entertaining. I guess moviegoers will have to set any logic aside and just enjoy the film. The Accountant 2 is as preposterous as the Fast and Furious or one of the Final Destination films.

What’s not silly or over-the-top is Jon Bernthal as Braxton. His performance alone is worth your time. Bernthal is easily the best part of the film. He’s got some of the film’s best scenes. The phone argument on his phone is laugh out loud funny once you realize what he’s talking about. The line dancing bar scene is fantastic (easily the best sequence in the film), his back-and-forth teasing with his brother is comical, not to mention Bernthal’s flawless comedic timing – the scene when Braxton is explaining how he knows who killed those people is subtle and hilarious. Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal should do more movies together.

The Accountant 2 is a fun time but much different than the first film. . The first film felt more balanced with a bit of drama surrounding Christian Wolff and action. The sequel, however, action scene after action scene with some laugh out loud moments sprinkled in. It never tries to be a serious film about crime or about any of the characters. The villains don’t get much screen time other than obvious villainess moments. It’s hard to care about any of the characters Christian and Braxton are trying to save because we don’t spend any real time with them. We learn about them through photos and erratic flashbacks. This sequel is missing the charm of the first film and fills it with more bullets and blood. If moviegoers can turn their brains off for two hours, they’ll enjoy this excessive action sequel more than they should.

Grade: B