Film reviews: The Accountant 2 and The Shrouds
A number cruncher crushes a new set of bad guys and mourners buy a view into their loved ones' graves

The Accountant 2
Directed by Gavin O'Connor (R)
Once you get past the ridiculous setup, "you will likely find yourself enjoying this extremely entertaining movie," said Jordan Hoffman in Entertainment Weekly. As in the hit 2016 original, Ben Affleck stars as Christian Wolff, an autistic accountant with two superpowers: fixing mobsters' books and killing villains. This time, he's battling a human-trafficking operation, though that part of the plot is inscrutable. "I have seen The Accountant 2 twice, and I still have no idea what the hell the bad guys are doing." But there's enough distraction here, partly owing to a shift in tone that "leaves room for more action and comedy."
The franchise continues to provide "a very Hollywood treatment of autism," said Alison Willmore in NYMag.com. Because Wolff is autistic, he's a genius at pattern recognition. But "at least the film has an enormous affection for its hero, as well as empathy for his frustrations." And while the comedy can "veer toward the cutesy," as when Chris tries speed dating, the scenes that reunite Affleck with Jon Bernthal as Chris' contract-killer brother are great. One is the brains, the other's the brawn, a dynamic reminiscent of '80s action movies that "put together two likable stars in polar opposite character types and then just let the sparks fly," said Brian Tallerico in RogerEbert.com. "The problem is everything else." The movie is half buddy comedy, half crime thriller. "Merging the two becomes an assignment too difficult for even The Accountant to decipher."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The Shrouds
Directed by David Cronenberg (R)
"The Shrouds is a grief story as only David Cronenberg would ever think to shoot one," said David Ehrlich in IndieWire. Inspired by the legendary body-horror director's anguish over his wife's death from cancer, the sardonic film is often "cadaverously stiff," but its coldness proves "deeply comforting" in the days after you've seen it. Vincent Cassel stars as a widowed entrepreneur who has created a graveyard technology that allows mourners to use a smartphone app to observe their departed loved ones as they decay. Though Cassel is styled to look like Cronenberg, said Justin Chang in The New Yorker, the character, Karsh, is clearly not a straight stand-in, and "what begins as a drama of grief soon morphs into a study of how grief is exploited, manipulated, and compartmentalized."
When Karsh's business suffers a round of attacks of unknown origin, the mystery leads him down a wormhole of conspiracy theories. But he's also experiencing visions of his wife, played by Diane Kruger, and the story "doesn't resolve so much as dissipate, in a series of almost comically perfunctory reversals and whispers of geopolitical peril." For many viewers, it'll be frustrating that the movie, which "promised to be akin to a droll Coen brothers comedy" instead "wanders off into reverie," said Kyle Smith in The Wall Street Journal. "Cronenberg may not care about closure, but a movie can benefit greatly from it."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Sowaka: a fusion of old and new in Kyoto
The Week Recommends Japanese tradition and modern hospitality mesh perfectly at this restored ryokan
-
Scientists have identified 4 distinct autism subtypes
Under the radar They could lead to more accurate diagnosis and care
-
Crossword: July 21, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) recipe
The Week Recommends German dish is fresh, creamy and an ideal summer meal
-
6 peaceful homes near small towns
Feature Featuring doors with local topographical maps in Oregon and a 1850s homestead-turned-house in Vermont
-
The best TV shows based on movies
The Week Recommends A handful of shows avoid derivative storytelling and craft bold narrative expansions
-
Too Much: London-set romantic comedy from Lena Dunham
The Week Recommends Megan Stalter stars as a 'neurotic' New Yorker who falls in love with a Brit
-
Apocalypse in the Tropics: a 'troubling' portrait of modern Brazil
The Week Recommends Petra Costa's sobering documentary examines the rise of right-wing evangelical Christianity in Brazilian politics
-
Murderland: a 'hauntingly compulsive' book
The Week Recommends Caroline Fraser sets out a 'compelling theory' that toxins were to blame for the 1970s serial killer epidemic
-
The 2025 James Beard Award winners
Feature Featuring a casually elegant restaurant, recipes nearly lost to war, and more
-
Film reviews: Superman and Sorry, Baby
Feature A hero returns, in surprising earnest, and a woman navigates life after a tragedy