Parents' Guide to The Accountant 2

This mostly fun, mostly fine action sequel makes some small improvements on its predecessor but also repeats some of the same mistakes, and makes some new ones. The original The Accountant gave viewers an autistic hero who many said was portrayed both inaccurately and somewhat thoughtlessly, given that the role was played by a neurotypical actor and falls into the "savant syndrome" cliché. The Accountant 2 doesn't really correct either of those issues, but Affleck is still likable, even if he doesn't do any actual accounting this time.

The original was also accused of having a needlessly complicated plot, and that continues here; it's not so much that things are hard to understand but that questions are left unanswered, as if certain ideas were jettisoned or shoehorned in at the 11th hour. Nevertheless, the movie does conjure up at least half a dozen pretty cool moments and scenes, most of them involving Bernthal's loose-cannon character. And one scene, set in a country bar in Los Angeles, has nothing to do with the plot but is a really nice, funny bonding scene between the two estranged brothers. The first movie seemed largely forgotten nearly a decade after its release, so it's not clear who exactly was asking for a sequel so many years later, but those who do check out The Accountant 2 will find themselves mildly diverted for two hours and 12 minutes.