What Is The Martial Arts Style Featured In The Accountant?

It's no secret that the action genre is oversaturated these days. Indeed, there are times where it's almost impossible to distinguish one movie from another — though admittedly, there aren't many action films with a premise as unique as "The Accountant." Released in 2016, "The Accountant" follows the story of Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), a forensic accountant who secretly makes his money by helping criminals across the world uncover embezzlement schemes within their organizations.

Early on in the film, it's revealed via flashback that Chris was diagnosed with autism at a young age, and his father decided that the best way to treat the condition would be to expose Chris to as much sensory stimulation as possible. He also put Chris through rigorous martial arts training as a child, which Chris now uses frequently when dispatching criminals or hitmen while on the job. These martial arts scenes are some of the most memorable sequences in the whole movie, but what kind of martial arts style is Chris actually using?

The fighting style used in "The Accountant" is actually pencak silat, the Indigenous martial art of Indonesia (via Film and TV Now). Pencak silat is a fighting style that includes a wide array of different strikes, stances, and techniques using every part of one's body (via Black Belt). It is also one of the more aesthetically pleasing forms of martial arts out there since it's associated with dancing and rhythmic drum beats. Like many other Asian martial arts, many of the techniques used in pencak silat are said to derive from the fighting styles of animals like tigers, eagles, monkeys, and even scorpions (via Southern Cross Bujutsu).

All told, the mixture of creativity and aesthetics inherent to pencak silat make it a fighting style that is perfect for the big screen — though with a 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it's clear that even those excellent fight scenes can't entirely make up for the film's frustrating and often confusing story line. Fortunately, the film was commercially successful enough to warrant a sequel, so it appears we'll be getting more of those electric fight scenes in due time.