When retired treasury agent Ray King (J. K. Simmons) is murdered his protégé Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) begrudgingly reaches out to ‘The Accountant’ (Ben Affleck) to help solve the crime and get justice.

The Accountant 2 brings the creative team behind the 2016 The Accountant back to continue the story of autistic accountant/assassin Christian Wolff. Writer Bill Dubuque and Director Gavin O’Connor brought us an intriguing but flawed film the first time round and whilst I appreciate their refusal to just turn this sequel into an all out action movie I am still not sold at all on some of their more ‘out there’ story choices.

This film opens nine years on from the original. Medina is now deputy director at FinCEN thanks to the tips that she receives through Wolff. King is retired and doing some private detective work that has led him down a road he cannot extricate himself from. Whilst Wolff continues to have no real attachments in a transient life and has not reconnected with his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) since the original film.

As with the original, this film contains a puzzle. What is the solution to the case that King was investigating that led to his murder? It creates an initial collaboration between Wolff, Braxton and Medina that sparks in the clashes of legal versus illegal means of obtaining information before heading into much more of a buddy movie as Braxton tries to connect with his brother Christian.

Also, as with the original there is a rather large puzzle piece that when turned over made me reel so hard it felt like I had whiplash. Both films have Hollywood Autism but the choice made in relation to an incredibly rare syndrome that does actually exist is a pretty outlandish one for a film that spends most of its time grounded in some semblance of reality. Perhaps in the world created within The Accountant films it is realistic, after all this film spends much more time showing us that Wolff has such excellent intel because the kids at the autistic home he grew up in spend their time hacking every computer and device in the world to get it for him. Something that bothered me way less than the plot turn I will not reveal now but I am sure you will know when it happens.

The buddy comedy back and forth between Affleck and Bernthal is much more interesting and perhaps something that needed more time to develop. Bernthal exudes cool but is also able to show how difficult it is for his character to not be loved or thought about by his brother in the way that he would like. And their conversations about being a cat or a dog person boil down into some more bizarro humour that feels out of place in this gritty world.

Otherwise, perhaps its biggest loss from the original movie is that it does not have the array of supporting character actors in smaller roles to peak your interest. The focus is very much narrowed to the main triumvirate of protagonists and a far longer, protracted action sequence at the end of the movie.

Any concerns that this belated sequel would just be an action movie cash-in are assuaged very early on. But the result is still just as flawed as the original. Perhaps the in discussion trilogy closing film will manage to get the balance right?

The Accountant 2 is fine, but my preference would certainly be the original.