The Accountant 2’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Surprisingly Good

Money never sleeps, and neither do bankers. Sometimes, cash requires dirtied hands and bloodied, life-altering actions. Years after learning of cash’s bloodless consequences in The Accountant, now-retired criminal forensic accountant Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) struggles with the ordinary: “Don’t wear your black suit. It makes you look like a mortician,” Christian Wolff’s (Ben Affleck) Siri-like assistant answers when he asks what he should wear in his pristine RV. The Accountant 2‘s positive reviews prove Wolff’s story is far from dead or mortician-requiring.

The Accountant 2 has been released at the 2025 SXSW Film Festival, nine years after Wolff and his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) stepped into sniper sights, with largely positive results. The Accountant was indeed commercially successful, gaining roughly a combined $155 million on a $44 million budget, but it received critically not-so-great comments. While many critics praised Affleck’s performance and the martial arts-oriented action sequences, those same critics and others found its depiction of autism tasteless, its plotting thin, characters slimmed down, and bits of potential—such as Braxton and Christian’s brotherly relationship compounded by their father-induced traumas—undervalued. While the money was good, all the criticism of the film’s core components left The Accountant feeling like a failed single action-thriller outing. That is, until now.

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The Accountant 2 currently holds an 86-87% fresh score on the Tomatometer, with an average rating of 6.6/10 from 23 critics. Even without further input, this positive score signals good news for fans of The Accountant and its starring actors: mistakes have been learned, and the formula has been improved. The film’s predecessor, with 285 certified reviews, holds a 53% with critics—a 34-35% difference in likability. However, it also has a 77% audience score from 25,000+ audience ratings, signifying fans’ feelings as being more open to continuing Wolff’s story. Premiering April 25th, 2025, there is still plenty of time for reviews to turn this sequel’s tide, but things look good so far for franchise and action fans alike.

In an interview with USA Today, Ben Affleck discusses Christian’s loneliness and few relationships becoming The Accountant 2‘s significant focus: “It’s not an easy thing to be a person and build authentic connections, and he’s [Christian] estranged from his brother [Braxton], the guy he probably loves most in the world…. How do we try to get along with our friends and family, people even closest to us?” The Wolff brothers’ relationship was already strained in 2016, but many felt the film’s shallower thematic interplay outweighed its significance. By focusing more on their relationship, The Accountant could make both Christian and Braxton feel more like living, breathing people, as their backstories and complicated history might not feel like slapped-on motivators for Christian’s current endeavors as they have previously.

Hearing Affleck openly comment on that relationship’s new-found relevance, on top of other comments like Christian’s seeking of other relationships such as love and Braxton’s being fleshed out to co-star levels, is reassuring for those hopeful that The Accountant would return more potent than ever. Loneliness was already a core component of Christian’s character arc, but bringing that to the forefront will thicken his appeal to fans and newcomers alike. Plus, Affleck as Christian in his now solidified post-Zack Snyder’s Batman era and Bernthal as Braxton are hilariously irresistible together. Unlike many sequels, The Accountant‘s creatives demonstrate their attentiveness to past criticisms, honing in on the personal beats of the franchise’s main characters and the fun of its action and gags. While there’s a month and a half left to wait, The Accountant 2 hopefuls can look forward to a good ride judging from Rotten Tomatoes’ updates.

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