“The Accountant” was a midsized hit from 2016 that until recently had a reputation as a wannabe franchise-starter that never got a follow-up. I watched the first movie for research last weekend, and I would have guessed that the reason the film went so long without a sequel was that the key players knew that they had made a lousy movie and wanted to do better things with their careers. But apparently there was enough interest to bring about “The Accountant 2,” a film popular enough to make for one of the most crowded screenings I’ve attended in recent memory. I can’t say that I really see the appeal – either before or after the screening.

Ben Affleck is back as genius accountant Christian Wolff. He takes jobs from the most dangerous people on the planet: mobsters, cartels, even terrorist organizations. So that nobody can ever track him to a permanent address, he lives a nomadic lifestyle in a trailer. He also has the extra insurance policy of being a highly-trained killer, though he prefers to not put those skills to use. To ease his conscience a bit, he supplies occasional tips on clients to the Treasury Department and donates much of his income to a private school for autistic children, where his mute partner Justine (played by Allison Robertson, with the voice of Alison Wright via computer) handles many of his operational logistics. Christian himself is autistic, which leads to difficulties in communication that range from funny to sad to scary.

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The film opens with Ray King (J.K. Simmons), Christian’s former contact at the Treasury Department, meeting with mysterious assassin Anais (Daniella Pineda) about the whereabouts of a Mexican family. The meeting is… violently broken up. Current Treasury agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is determined to find out and fix the matter that was so important to her mentor. Her investigation leads her to teaming up with Christian, but continuing Ray’s mission may be too dangerous even for the two of them. Christian is going to have to reach out to his estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal).

The first “Accountant” kept Christian’s connection to antagonistic assassin Braxton a secret until the end (I know hindsight is 20/20, but it seems like this was an incredibly easy twist to guess, considering we knew from flashbacks that Christian had a brother raised by the same tough-love father), so they really only had one scene together. This movie, to its credit, takes much better advantage of Affleck and Bernthal as actors. Their chemistry, which mostly consists of sibling squabbling, is the highlight of the movie.

Far from the highlight of the movie is the convoluted storyline about illegal immigration rings, prostitution rings, child internment camps, and how violent wildcard Anais fits into it all. The first movie was just as bad in this department, but at least it had squirrely villain John Lithgow to root against, it’s easy to forget that this movie’s fish-market-owning villain (Robert Morgan) is even a character. With the exception of gray-area Anais, all the bad guys in this movie are so inept that it’s impossible to take them seriously as threats to Christian and Braxton.

Most of the reviews I’ve read either paint “The Accountant 2” as a decent buddy action movie hampered by a confusing mess of a story or a confusing mess of a story elevated by decent buddy action. I’m in the latter camp, which means I don’t recommend the movie overall. I was going to give it a “C-,” but then I decided that I should reward it for improving on the first movie by giving us more Affleck/Bernthal banter, so I’m bumping it up a little. Still, I hope that any future “Accountant” movies recognize and retain what worked about this movie (and the first) while also acknowledging that there need to be improvements made to the way the story unfolds.

Grade: C

“The Accountant 2” is rated R for strong violence and language throughout. Its running time is 124 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.