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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Accountant, The (Blu-ray) (2016)

Accountant, The (Blu-ray) (2016)

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Released 15-Feb-2017

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Featurette-Inside the Man (10:38)
Featurette-Behavioral Science (8:04)
Featurette-The Accountant in Action (7:14)
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2016
Running Time 127:54
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Gavin O'Connor
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Ben Affleck
Anna Kendrick
J.K. Simmons
Jon Bernthal
Cynthia Addai-Robinson
John Lithgow


Case ?
RPI ? Music Mark Isham


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1
French Dolby Digital 5.1
German Dolby Digital 5.1
Italian Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
French
German for the Hearing Impaired
Italian for the Hearing Impaired
Spanish
Danish
Dutch
Greek
Icelandic
Norwegian
Swedish
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is an Asperger’s sufferer who lives alone, unable to form relationships. When he was young his army officer father, fearful that Christian would be taken advantage of, had Christian and his brother taught martial arts and weapons handling. But Christian possessed an affinity for mathematical calculation and is now ostensively a small town accountant. But this is a cover, as Christian is a forensic accountant for some of the world’s largest crime syndicates: if money starts to go missing Christian is the person who is called in to find out how and who is responsible. He guards his privacy and identity zealously, being only a shadowy figure in surveillance photographs. Before he retires, Treasury official Ray King (J.K. Simmons) is determined to identify this shadowy accountant and enlists Treasury Analyst Maybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), a woman with her own hidden past, to assist.

     Christian also does forensic accounting for legitimate businesses and is called in by Living Robotics, a profitable and soon to go public prosthetics company owned by Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow) and his sister Rita (Jean Smart), when junior accountant Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) uncovers a discrepancy in the books. Christian discovers that over $61 million has been syphoned off by means of false invoices but before he can complete his findings his investigation is terminated. Worse, someone who does not want the truth to be known has hired a group of professionals led by Brax (Jon Bernthal) to kill both Christian and Dana. With both the Treasury and the killers closing in, Christian and Dana go into hiding. But Christian is not one to leave a job unfinished and the body count goes through the roof.

     The Accountant is a slick and stylish action thriller directed by Gavin O’Connor. The action sequences are loud and chaotic; many feature the deep boom of Christian’s sniper rifle and other firearms but the film also showcases a number of hand to hand fight scenes where Christian’s skills are based on the Indonesian martial arts technique called Silat, shown to great effect in films such as Merantau (2009) and The Raid films (2011, 2014). Ben Affleck handles these action beats well and is convincing as an Asperger’s sufferer while J.K. Simmons is at his gruff best and Cynthia Addai-Robinson is also very good. Anna Kendrick was nominated for a best supporting actress for Up in the Air (2009) but she feels the weak link in The Accountant and her scenes with Affleck are unconvincing, thus robbing the picture of some needed heart.

     The Accountant is over two hours in length but it is to the credit of O’Connor and screenwriter Bill Dubuque that it flows along smoothly and never feels bloated. All the main characters are fleshed out and have some backstory and all secrets are revealed by the end, leaving no loose ends. Indeed, if truth is to be told, it could be argued that everything comes together rather too neatly and with too many contrivances; but hey, this is a film, not life.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The Accountant is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     This is a film with a muted colour scheme, with brown tones predominating although the offices of Living Robotics and the Treasury are very much glass and grey steel. Throughout detail is strong, blacks and shadow detail are very good, brightness and contrast consistent except where glare is used deliberately to hide the actor, skin tones natural.

     Artefacts and marks were absent.

     Subtitles include English for the Hearing Impaired plus a wide range of European languages.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio choices include English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English descriptive audio, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish (Dolby Digital 5.1).

     This is a loud and enveloping audio experience with the rears and surrounds fully utilised with voices, music, rain and thunder, the boom of gunshots, especially the sniper rifle, and the crash and thud of impacts. Dialogue is clear. The sub-woofer added resonance to the gunshots, impacts and the music.

     Mark Isham is a prolific composer with 157 credits on the IMDb. He was nominated for an Oscar for A River Runs Through It in 1992 and provides an effective score here, augmented by songs by others including Sean Rowe and Jim James plus a bit of Johann Sebastian Bach.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     Three relatively short EPK featurettes with on-set footage and brief interviews.

Inside the Man (10:38)

     This mainly concerns Asperger’s, Ben Affleck’s performance and the production design. Contributions from cast Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal, John Lithgow and J.K. Simmons, the director Gavin O’Conner, writer Bill Dubuque, two producers and the production designer.

Behavioral Science (8:04)

     A discussion about some of the behaviours of autism and how the filmmakers strove to make it real and believable. Comments by the director, writer, two producers, Affleck, Kendrick and an expert on autism.

The Accountant in Action (7:14)

     Affleck in the action sequences, the intention to make the fight scenes, based on Silat, not flashy but quick and precise, as well as information about the guns used. Comments by the director, writer, three cast, a producer, two stunt coordinators, a stuntman and the armorer.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     Our version of The Accountant has the FBI privacy warning and is the same as the US release except for subtitles and the fact that release gets a 7.1 audio track. Ours is the same as the European Region B version with a myriad of European subtitle options.

Summary

     The Accountant is an action thriller that has aspirations to say something about the treatment of those suffering from autism in our society. It is well meaning, and certainly it has a point about “difference” that should be made, but the fact that it is so stylish and slick and has Ben Affleck as its action hero with superior martial arts and weapons skills tends to undermine the message. However, taken as an action thriller, it is well directed with intense and chaotic action sequences and an ever increasing body count.

     The video and audio are very good. The extras are EPK.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Monday, February 20, 2017
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE