Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions

"Boy Kills World" is about a deaf-mute known only as Boy (Bill Skarsgaard), who takes on a whole heap of bad guys employed by the corrupt family that dominates his city, much like Christian takes on a slew of mob criminals in "The Accountant." But 2023's "Boy Kills World" is far more stylized. It's set in a dystopian metropolis ruled by the sadistic Van Der Koys who, once a year, televise an event known as the Culling in which they kill their enemies. Boy is raised by a shaman (Yayan Ruhian) after his mother and sister are killed and he is left deaf and mute by Hilda Van Der Koy (Famke Janssen). He's trained with one purpose: to kill the Van Der Koys.

Though "Boy Kills World" bombed at the box office, it has its own nasty charm that fans of ultra-violent movies should enjoy. This is due to a committed performance by Skarsgaard as Boy. Skarsgaard can throw down with the best of them, but he brings a refreshing irreverence to the role too. He doesn't say a word — H. Jon Benjamin plays his "inner voice" — but he experiences everything, and you get all his emotions, even without dialogue.

Focus Features

Hanna is a 15-year-old girl (Saoirse Ronan) who lives with her father, Erik (Eric Bana), in rural Finland. Hanna is also a supersoldier and a killing machine. Erik is an ex-CIA officer who has trained her in all sorts of combat and other skills, and one day, when Erik believes she's ready, he lets her decide whether to press a button that will bring the CIA to their door — specifically, an operative named Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett) who seeks to eliminate Erik. Though Hanna hesitates at first, she eventually presses the button because, while it will bring the CIA, it will also mean freedom from their isolated rural life, at least for Hanna.

Like Christian Wolff in "The Accountant," Hanna is trained by her father and has a compelling quality that makes her distinctly watchable. In Hanna's case it's that she's a child, albeit a deadly one. Hanna's story takes her all over Europe and Africa as she seeks to kill Marissa and meet up with her father (she follows a similar trajectory in the three-season Prime Video series "Hanna"). Though Hanna is dangerous, she also wants a normal life, making her tale — and this 2011 film — equally compelling and bruising.

Baa-Ram-Ewe

This 2008 Thai movie is about an autistic person who, like Christian Wolff in "The Accountant," kills people. However, unlike Christian Wolff, she's a child, her name is Zen (Yanin "Jeeja" Vismistananda), and her world isn't very big. It consists of her, her mother Zin (Ammara Siripong), and the little boy Zin took in, Moom (Taphon Phopwandee). So when Zen's mother gets sick with cancer and Moom finds out that many businesses in town owe her outstanding debts from when she was a moneylender for the gangster No. 8 (Pongpat Wachirabunjong), Zen and Moom decide to collect. 

But the businesses don't want to give the money over, so Zen, having learned to fight from both the martial arts school they live next to and the martial arts movies she enjoys watching, takes matters into her own hands. She may be little, but she's fierce, and therefore, she can kick every one of their butts.

"Chocolate" is worth watching for its myriad fights. While it's hard to understand how the people who owe money allow themselves to be beaten up by Zen, it's supremely entertaining. This is especially true when she takes on a boy with Tourette's syndrome who almost defeats her, until she adjusts her fighting style to match his, and when she takes on the big boss, No. 8, at the end of the film.

Universal Pictures

2002's "The Bourne Identity" was the first in a series of movies about covert assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon). Though there was a 1988 TV movie based on the novel of the same name by Robert Ludlum, this film, directed by Doug Liman, is the big-screen extravaganza the book always called for. In it, Bourne is recovered from the sea with gunshot wounds in his back. When he wakes up, it turns out he has amnesia and doesn't even remember his own name, but he does remember his advanced fighting skills and the various languages he is fluent in. Soon, he's on the run from the CIA as he slowly figures out who he was, what he did, and why the CIA wants him.

"The Bourne Identity" is filled with great action sequences, from car chases to hand-to-hand combat to gunfights. Plus, Matt Damon is kind of reminiscent of his buddy Ben Affleck in "The Accountant," as they both play men with serious fighting skills who aren't what you'd expect of typical killers. One of the things viewers will really enjoy about "The Bourne Identity" is the mystery that envelops Bourne and the various ways he goes about trying to figure out his own story. It makes Bourne extraordinary yet deeply human — just the way we like him.

Sony Pictures

Much like Christian Wolff in "The Accountant," Baby (Ansel Elgort) in "Baby Driver" works for the mob by choice. Or at least mostly. Because while he loves to drive, he isn't crazy about being a getaway driver for gangsters. However, he does it to pay off his debt for stealing crime kingpin Doc's (Kevin Spacey) car. Baby also has tinnitus as a result of a car crash that killed his parents and plays music of all kinds, which he loves, to drown out the ringing in his ears. What follows is a fantasia of action and romance as Baby attempts to escape his criminal life and drive into the sunset with his love, Debora (Lily James), but this proves more difficult than he expected.

"Baby Driver," written and directed by Edgar Wright, is one of the most original films on this list. The 2017 thriller not only has great car chases, it has many clever moments of good-natured swagger set to the music that gives the film a stylish zip you don't often see. This is why we're still holding out hope for "Baby Driver 2", even though there's no word on if it will ever be produced. 

Netflix

"The Killer" features Michael Fassbender as the title character, a professional assassin who apparently never misses ... until he does. When we meet him, he's staking out a hotel room in Paris waiting for his target. The target takes his time getting to the room, during which time the Killer eats, does yoga, and has a nonstop monologue going in his head for our listening pleasure. 

The thing you immediately notice from his monologue is just how meticulous his planning is; it's so exacting, in fact, that you begin to wonder if this guy has OCD. Throughout the movie his need for control, his detailed planning, and his discipline mark him as having OCD-like tendencies. This puts "The Killer" in a similar camp to "The Accountant," with both about a person with an odd job who also happens to have tendencies that make his behavior atypical, though in the Killer's case this behavior is never diagnosed.

After missing his target in Paris, Fassbender's assassin starts a country- and state-hopping quest to figure out what happened and why, leading him to all sorts of people who had a hand in it. Telling a story from the point of view of a cold-blooded contract killer, especially one who is so detached, seems like it could be a slog, but the 2023 movie, as directed by David Fincher, is fascinating, showing the brief cracks in the protagonist's take-no-prisoners exterior and the brief flashes of humor in Fincher's filmmaking. 

Universal Pictures

When "Midnight Run" came out in 1988, it was billed as a buddy comedy, but the duo at its center don't start off as friends. In fact, they pretty much hate each other. That's because Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) is a bounty hunter who hunts down Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin) after he jumps bail. Mardukas is an accountant for the mob, just like Christian Wolff in "The Accountant," but in Mardukas' case, he didn't know he was working for the mob. When he finds out, he donates their money to charity, while keeping a sizable chunk for himself. 

Walsh has to take Mardukas from New York to Los Angeles to collect his bounty, which seems easy enough, but Mardukas isn't going to make it so simple. Not only that, but the feds, the crooks, and a rival bounty hunter are all looking for Mardukas. In other words, the easy "midnight run" that Walsh was promised is anything but.

"Midnight Run" is a fun movie, full of hijinks and action, but what makes it a true gem is the odd couple chemistry between the two leads. Whether they're bickering over what Walsh should eat or whether Mardukas is faking a panic attack on a plane, the pair have a delightful energy that takes the two from enemies to sorta kinda friends in the final frame. It's a very enjoyable ride that might just be Robert De Niro's best movie.

Lionsgate

"Safe" is a Jason Statham movie, and we all know what that means: rip-roaring action with Statham's fists at the center. But that's not why this 2012 offering is on this list; it's because of the little girl Statham is protecting, Mei (Catherine Chan), who happens to be a mathematical genius who works for a Chinese triad — which is wherethis movie overlaps with "The Accountant." But while Christian Wolff can take on his criminal overlords himself, Mei needs some help, and that's where Statham comes in.

Statham plays Luke Wright, a cage fighter who accidentally wins what was supposed to be a fixed fight. The Russian mafia, represented by Vassily (Joseph Sikora), is ruthless to Luke as a result, killing his pregnant wife and threatening anyone associated with him. This forces Luke into homelessness and eventually to contemplate suicide, when Mei comes along, pursued by some of the men who killed his wife. Luke ends up in the middle of a war between the triad, the Russian syndicate, and a cadre of corrupt cops, all while protecting Mei. This isn't the most innovative movie, but Statham gives good action, and he and Chan are a winning pair.

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Warner Bros.

"Central Intelligence" explores what would happen if a forensic accountant got taken in by a (rogue?) CIA agent who needs the bookkeeper for his skillset. However, this is a comedy, with Kevin Hart playing the accountant, Calvin Joyner, a big dog in high school but someone who has quickly succumbed to the workaday sameness of his job in adulthood. So when Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson), who reveals himself to be the nerdy Robbie Weirdicht from high school, invites him to be Facebook friends and then invites him to a bar, he agrees. 

Though Robbie got bullied for being heavy in high school, Bob's now a fit, good-looking dude and Joyner is astonished. Soon, Bob is crashing at Joyner's house and Joyner is looking at online transactions for him. That is, until three CIA agents come to Joyner's door the next day and tell him Stone is a rogue agent who wants to sell U.S. satellite codes to the highest bidder.

2016's "Central Intelligence" is like the funny version of "The Accountant." As a result, there's less torture and greed and more messed-up backflips and Stone pretending to be Joyner and his wife's (Danielle Nicolet) marriage counselor. While the script is undoubtedly convoluted, Hart and Johnson are a hilarious combination, and plenty of funny people appear in cameos, making this a worthwhile watch.

Universal Pictures

In 1998's "Mercury Rising," an autistic boy named Simon (Miko Hughes) cracks a classified National Security Code that was published in a magazine. Why would the coders put a classified code in a magazine available to just anyone? Well, it turns out Dean Crandell (Robert Stanton) and Leo Pedranski (Bodhi Pine Elfman) were just seeing if anyone could crack it. But it turns out this is a big no-no, and their superior, Colonel Nick Kudrow (Alec Baldwin), sends an assassin to eliminate Simon and his parents. Except the assassin only kills Simon's parents, not Simon, who hides in a crawlspace to get away. Enter FBI agent Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis), a man with a soft spot for kids and the expertise to crack heads.

Based on the novel "Simple Simon" by Ryne Douglas Pearson, "Mercury Rising" has several parallels to "The Accountant," including the boy with the autism diagnosis and the high-powered people coming after him. In "Mercury Rising," the boy has a form of autism that makes it more difficult for Simon to interact with people, making Jeffries' job much harder. It's tough to imagine a government agency coming after a child in real life, but this movie will make you think twice before telling anyone about that code you just cracked.

Well Go USA Entertainment

Cha Tae-sik (Won Bin) in the 2010 South Korean movie "The Man from Nowhere" doesn't have autism or any other known mental or physical health issue. But he does have a serious case of grief, and that makes him as unwilling to engage with people as the main character in "The Accountant." In fact, his only friend is a little girl named So-mi (Kim Sae-ron), who forces her way into his life because her mother, Hyo-jeong (Kim Hyo-seo), isn't around much. But when Hyo-jeong is tortured because she stole a bag of opium from the bar where she works and So-mi is kidnapped, Tae-sik springs into action to recover So-mi.

People who enjoy movies like "The Accountant" and "John Wick" should enjoy "The Man From Nowhere" too. The setting is distinctly brutal, with the mobsters running an organ harvesting business along with their drug trafficking, but Tae-sik is equally relentless on the villains. However, as the bodies pile up, you also see him set child slaves free, making this a movie where the good guys ultimately win, at least to a degree.

HBO Max

"Kimi" isn't the name of the main character in this 2023 thriller, which is directed by Steven Soderbergh; it's the name of the virtual assistant that everyone wants even more than Alexa or Siri. And in this film it's used by everyone, even the main character, Angela Childs (Zoe Kravitz), who is homebound because she suffers from agoraphobia. This is another example, like "The Accountant," of a differently abled person who must confront those that seem more powerful than her in order to do the right thing. But in Angela's case, she doesn't have any special skills. It turns out, though, that doesn't prevent her from engaging in some exciting action.

Angela, whose job is monitoring data streams for Kimi devices, comes across what seems to be a recording of a violent sexual assault. She tries to report it to the people at her company but is brushed off. This is enough to get her to venture out of her apartment and into the wider world. While Angela is a reluctant protagonist, it turns out she is just the person the woman needs to avenge her in this brilliantly plotted — and brief — film.