I don't like watching bad movies. I like even less writing about them. There is no joy in being snippy about a bad experience. Yet sometimes, I have to sit through a film that makes me so angry that it deserves a lashing. The Accountant 2 is one of those times. It's an unpleasant and insulting experience that made this autistic person deeply uncomfortable.

The film stars Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal, who are both charming and easy to like. They've made their careers by playing underdogs when others have gone for unmatched godhood. For a second, there's a slim chance their chemistry can make this work. It doesn't, but they make a valiant effort.

The Accountant is built on a foundation that is problematic at best and deeply insulting at worst. It tells the story of an autistic hitman who can't read body language, doesn't understand metaphors, and can barely dress himself, but is also an uncontested savant in everything a killer needs to thrive.

He understands the value of fine art and he can rattle off statistics and tax data effortlessly. He even does the insipid magic trick popularized by the awful Sherlock series where he lets "normies" finish talking before proving them wrong with the power of autism.

When his friend is murdered, Affleck's hitman throws himself into a convoluted plan to find who did it. After two hours, I couldn't tell you how he figures it out, but the movie doesn't seem to care, either. This is a film where Affleck recognizes autism in a young child from a photograph. Logic has no place here.

In one scene, Affleck's character deduces how line dancing works through the power of autism. Moments before, his wardrobe is described as "Forrest Gump" style. For a film that pretends to empower its disabled characters, The Accountant goes out of its way to minimize and other them.

Then there's the army of child soldiers who the film implies are in Affleck's care. Because, as we all know, being autistic means you're naturally gifted at computers, hacking, and plot contrivances. "There are more of us than you can imagine", one of the autistic army intones. I wonder what they do with the rest of us who failed math every semester.

In the end, all problems are solved with a shootout. The action is solidly underwhelming, the kind we've seen before in better films. Bernthal and Affleck sell the illusion, and I'm always delighted by how they allow themselves to fail and rise back up again. But none of it sings. It's there because someone said this was an action flick.

I kept thinking throughout the film about all the ways I like Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal. I wanted to remind myself that good actors can make bad movies even with the right intentions. Affleck has done at least some of the work. He gets traits right, even if they're exaggerated. Bernthal delivers a touching moment where he expresses the frustration of loving someone who they can't connect with on the level they wished. Both belong in a better, more humane film.

Instead, The Accountant 2 never refers to autism by name. It's always "your problem" or "your super power". Anything but the real thing. The director, Gavin O'Connor, has said a third movie is underway, and it will be "Rain Man on steroids". Which means the filmmakers know exactly what they're depicting, but are too cowardly to say so.

At a time when the American government wants to create a registry of autistic people and the minister of health spreads dangerous propaganda about who we are, films like The Accountant 2 can cause immense harm. This is a thoughtless and casually cruel picture that doesn't even have the courage to be upfront about it.