By Clare Thorp
It’s topped the US box office, has an all-star cast, and has been hailed as a totally unique take on the action-thriller. Now The Accountant is coming to the UK, and thanks to Vue’s exclusive first-look programme, The Preview Room, you can be one of the first people to see it on October 30, five days before general release.
Ben Affleck plays accountant Christian Wolff — though one look at the trailer shows there’s a lot more to his story than a hefty pile of tax returns. Wolff has a form of high-functioning autism that makes social interactions challenging, but gives him an astounding ability to solve mathematical puzzles. His talent makes him a tidy but morally suspect living cooking the books for drug cartels, gangsters and other unsavoury types. But it’s when he takes a legitimate job with a robotics company that things start to unravel. Wolff’s enlisted to help the company track down millions of missing dollars, but someone isn’t happy – and he and Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), the company’s staff bookkeeper, become targets.
It’s topped the US box office, has an all-star cast, and has been hailed as a totally unique take on the action-thriller. Now The Accountant is coming to the UK, and thanks to Vue’s exclusive first-look programme, The Preview Room, you can be one of the first people to see it on October 30, five days before general release.
Ben Affleck plays accountant Christian Wolff — though one look at the trailer shows there’s a lot more to his story than a hefty pile of tax returns. Wolff has a form of high-functioning autism that makes social interactions challenging, but gives him an astounding ability to solve mathematical puzzles. His talent makes him a tidy but morally suspect living cooking the books for drug cartels, gangsters and other unsavoury types. But it’s when he takes a legitimate job with a robotics company that things start to unravel. Wolff’s enlisted to help the company track down millions of missing dollars, but someone isn’t happy – and he and Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), the company’s staff bookkeeper, become targets.
As well as being a whizz with numbers, Wolff happens to be a master of martial arts and have a sizeable gun collection. Which leaves Dana, as well as the entire audience, wondering: how – and when – did Wolff learn to fight like this? Can he really be trusted?
Ben Affleck learnt the martial art of silat for the role, which makes for some spectacular fight scenes that demand to be seen on the big screen (and no doubt proved useful practice for his upcoming Batman role). Gavin O’Connor, the man behind the critically acclaimed 2011 wrestling drama The Warrior, directs, and as if the prospect of some great on-screen chemistry between Affleck and the always excellent Anna Kendrick isn’t enough, the film also stars the wonderful J.K Simmons (Whiplash) as a Treasury Department officer on Christian’s tail, as well as Jeffrey Tambor, John Lithgow and British actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson.
Ben Affleck learnt the martial art of silat for the role, which makes for some spectacular fight scenes that demand to be seen on the big screen (and no doubt proved useful practice for his upcoming Batman role). Gavin O’Connor, the man behind the critically acclaimed 2011 wrestling drama The Warrior, directs, and as if the prospect of some great on-screen chemistry between Affleck and the always excellent Anna Kendrick isn’t enough, the film also stars the wonderful J.K Simmons (Whiplash) as a Treasury Department officer on Christian’s tail, as well as Jeffrey Tambor, John Lithgow and British actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson.
Films about number crunching geniuses are nothing new to Hollywood — think A Beautiful Mind, The Imitation Game or even Affleck’s early hit Good Will Hunting. But The Accountant takes a unique character with an emotional backstory and mixes in some electrifying action to make something that’s not like anything you’ve seen before. “It’s smart, it’s got a ton of action, and its surprising,” says Ben Affleck. Be sure to catch it first at Vue.
The Accountant will be previewing at Vue on 30th October. Get times and tickets here.