Brainy Brawn

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Brainy Brawn

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By Ben Elliott

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Action movies are all about problem solving. The hero (or villain) gets cornered and has to fight, shoot, or explode their way out. It’s a formula that defined the musclebound action stars of the Reagan era — think Commando, Cobra, Red Scorpion — where brawn equaled brains, and the solution was always more firepower.

But in 1988, Die Hard rewrote the rules. Suddenly, our hero was a dad-bodded everyman, barefoot and bleeding, relying on cleverness and grit rather than just brute force. John McClane was still tough, but his power came as much from his brain as his biceps.

Die Hard, 1988

That shift paved the way for the 21st-century action hero — smart, adaptable, and increasingly grounded. After 9/11, the genre recalibrated around realism and precision, with zeitgeist defining hits like The Bourne Identity pushing franchises like James Bond toward tactical grit over suave machismo. The world felt more complicated, and its action heroes needed to follow suit.

It’s a trend that continues in The Accountant 2, Gavin O’Connor’s follow-up to his 2016 sleeper hit, which opens at The Triplex this week. Ben Affleck returns as Christian Wolff, a brilliant autistic forensic accountant who launders money for criminal organizations and knows how to dismantle a team of hitmen as efficiently as he balances a ledger. This time, he’s teaming up with his estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal), a fellow assassin with a slightly more direct, but equally effective, approach.

The Accountant 2, 2025

Like Bourne, Bond, and the John Wick movies, The Accountant taps into the thrill of competence. These characters are good at what they do — scary good — and that’s the appeal. In an era where it often feels like no one knows what they’re doing, there’s something deeply satisfying about watching someone who does.

The beats of these movies hit like the clicks of a Rubik’s Cube — each moment a satisfying step toward an inevitable solution. It’s not about surprise. It’s about watching someone cut through the chaos with clarity. And in a messy, unpredictable world, that kind of precision and confidence can be a bigger draw than seeing things go boom.

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