There are a couple of things I look for when I’m seeing an action movie. The first is whether the film has a plot that’s competent enough to carry give the action sequences some coherent structure. This can mean either that the plot is actually good enough that I forget I’m watching an action movie (think the Bourne movies, etc.), or it can mean that it’s simply a vehicle for the action and has some amount of self-awareness (think Jason Statham movies like “Crank” or films in “The Fast and the Furious” franchise.) The second aspect I look for is the action sequences themselves. Whether they’re gun battles, car chases, or choreographed fights, if the action is good enough – or fun enough – it can save any film in the genre.

So, where then does Ben Affleck (“Argo,” “The Town”) come in with his new film “The Accountant”? This movie has a lot of elements of a high quality action film in the style of the Bourne or Bond franchises, and from the trailer that seemed to be the mood that director Gavin O’Conner was going for.  On the other hand, O’Conner himself is a film director with not that many projects to speak of, and with that knowledge one might go into “The Accountant” thinking it might be a high quality flick in the B-movie style that many genre entries take on. If I had a better take on what kind of movie “The Accountant” wanted to be, I’d have an easier time reviewing it in the context of its peers, but it has mixed elements of too many styles.

My only conclusion is that this is a movie that is trying to be something that it’s not. Let’s look at the evidence. Does “The Accountant” have great action sequences? Absolutely. One climactic gunfight with a high caliber rifle might even rank as one of the best action scenes of 2016. Does it have fun characters? Surely. Anna Kendrick (“Pitch Perfect”) does well as a quirky and smart complement to Affleck, even though we don’t see enough of her throughout the entirety of the film. Jon Bernthal (“Daredevil,” “Fury”) and J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash,” “Spider-Man”) both put out characteristically great performances as a mercenary and treasury agent respectively, both of whom act as antagonists to Affleck’s character Christian Wolff.

But at the same time, we have certain elements that lend “The Accountant” gravitas that it might not deserve. Wolff’s profession as the titular accountant and his connection to mega corporations and criminal syndicates couches the film in the post-2008 financial skepticism that has permeated Hollywood (ex. Oliver Stone’s 2010 sequel to “Wall Street,” 2013’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” 2015’s “The Big Short,” and 2016’s “Money Monster.”) It’s uncertain if this is purposeful, but regardless “The Accountant” finds itself in a crowd that it might not belong in.

The idea that Wolff is a savant with a form of high-functioning Asperger’s is unique and succeeds in distinguishing “The Accountant” from 2016’s other action films, but it pushes the film down the same rabbit hole as the financial connection, making it seem as though it aspires to be something more complex than it otherwise would be.

And these complex elements would be fine, and even encouraged, if “The Accountant” got all of its fundamentals right. I love a good political or financial thriller, or something that changes the game like Wolff’s unique characteristics and traits. But the film has characters that seem like they don’t need to exist, and the action sequences don’t come often enough to make us forget some of the other plot elements that don’t seem to fit just right.

Verdict: Anchor Down for this film. It’s a fun movie to see, and it’s a good action movie in many respects, but it’s somewhere stuck in the middle between two conflicting genres.