Rated R for strong brutal violence throughout, grisly images, some graphic sexual content, nudity and pervasive language
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner
Director: Patrick Lussier
“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”
--Gustave Dore in John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”
No one movie is for everyone. This seems like basic knowledge, but you wouldn’t know it from many of Hollywood
Try this scene on for size…
The story’s protagonist (Nicolas Cage) is having sex with a completely nude cocktail waitress, though he has elected to remain mostly clothed. “Why don’t you fuck naked?” she asks during the act. “Because I never disrobe before a gunfight,” is his reply. And right on cue, the motel room door bursts open, a gang of thugs fly through, weapons drawn. In a split second, the hero has his own pistol in hand. He fires off a slew of rounds, wheels both himself and the woman in a circular motion to get better shots at any brute that gets too close. He does this while remaining inside her. In the midst of the fight, the hero is jolted from behind with a taser. This, of course, brings the woman to orgasm. What we have here is disposable filmmaking that rises to a level of… I don’t know… not really art, but something.
Cage plays John Milton. A possible connection to “Paradise Lost”? (What do you think?) He’s on a mission. His daughter has been killed by a satanic cult leader named Jonah King (Billy Burke), and his baby granddaughter has been kidnapped by the twisted devil-worshipper for the purposes of human sacrifice. He enlists the help of a no-nonsense free-spirit named Piper (Amber Heard) recently fired from her latest job. She reluctantly agrees, despite knowing little about this drifter who seems indestructible. At the same time, Milton Milton is, who The Accountant is, where the two come from, and where Milton
I’m not brimming with pride here, but I’ll admit I found the movie somewhat enjoyable, if for no other reason than it zipped down the narrative highway at a rapid enough pace so that my intellect didn’t have a chance to leap on board. The film is what it is, cinematic warts and all. It makes no apologies, nor does it ask an audience to like it.
It’s important to note, however, that editor-turned-director Patrick Lussier (“My Bloody Valentine”) is no Tarantino. He’s no Robert Rodriguez. Hell, he’s not even the filmmaking side of Rob Zombie. There is no wit-filled dialogue here, nor is there a distinct visual style that accentuates the bizarre premise. Even the satanic cult angle seems lifted from any number of horror-movie remakes. What it does have is an unbridled joy in its depravity. When a movie with this much violence and this many mutilations is shot specifically in 3D, it couldn’t care less if you’re offended.
There are those who believe Nicolas Cage is destroying his career with some of his role choices, but he knows what he’s doing. I don’t like all of his efforts either (i.e. the dreadful “Season of the Witch”) but he understands what’s asked of him, and what he’s comfortable playing. He’s an ideal choice for Milton
William Fichtner employs a similar approach with The Accountant. If there’s an understated self-mockery to his performance, it’s more bred from his character than an actor’s realization of the plot’s inherent lunacy. At first, Billy Burke seems an unusual choice for a cult leader, but he plays Jonah King just as he should… someone not quite sinister and darkly influential despite all efforts to canonize himself as such. David Morse adds a touch of humanity to the mix as a kind soul who offers to take care of the very things Milton himself cannot. And Amber Heard seems to have been cast solely by the studio’s PR department. She looks fine in the promotional posters, and actually holds her own opposite Cage.
Some films speak to me. Others engage a side of me that I’m not fully cognizant of until the moment those sides are unearthed. Look, it’s not art, people. It’s textbook guilty pleasure stuff. When you’re watching a movie where the protagonist declines the offering of a beer until he can drink that beer from the skull of his archenemy, there’s a perverse pleasure in knowing that, at some point in the movie, he will quite literally do so.
* * * out of * * * * stars
