“Without Remorse” is another film based on a Tom Clancy novel. However, I hear that this adaptation barely resembles Clancy’s original work. Either way, it’s a seriously dull thriller that doesn’t know whether it wants to be a Tom Clancy movie, a revenge movie or the next “Bourne” movie.
John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan “Creed”, “Black Panther”) is a Navy Seal sent on a dangerous mission in Syria. When he returns home, he plans to leave the military to spend more time with his wife, who is expecting their first child. When his wife is killed by Russian soldiers as a retaliation for his actions in the Middle East, Kelly will stop enough to bring down the people responsible.
Michael B. Jordan is really bland as John Kelly. However, nobody is entertaining in this movie. Jodie Turner-Smith, Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot”, “Jumper”) and Guy Pearce (“Memento”, “Iron Man 3”) are all just dreadfully boring. The characters in earlier Clancy films such as “Hunt For Red October” and “Sum Of All Fears” were genuinely interesting and they felt realistic. John Kelly in this movie feels more like the protagonists in revenge films such as “John Wick” and “Taken”. It’s a real shame that the realism of Clancy’s characters has been completely lost here.
“Without Remorse” has some exciting sequences near the beginning. Had it just stayed as a war movie set in Syria, it may have worked. When we move back to America, the film loses all focus. It then stumbles into the latter parts of the movie where it changes course again. While a few of the action scenes look slick, the film is a whole is a complete bore. The meticulous detail that made some of the earlier Clancy films such a joy to watch is gone and replaced by a more generic brand of espionage thrills.