Without Remorse

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Jamie Bell, Guy Pearce, Lauren London, Jacob Scipio, Todd Lasance, Jack Kesy, Lucy Russell, Cam Gigandet, Colman Domingo
Directed by: Stefano Sollima
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Thriller
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After a targeted assassination attempt that leaves his wife dead, an elite Navy SEAL (Michael B. Jordan) embarks on a quest for vengeance.

Review:

Tim: I was really excited to see Tom Clancy's world expand on the big screen. I've seen all the Jack Ryan movies and have really enjoyed the television series with John Krasinski. I was ready to see John Clark take center stage. Note: I've never actually read a single Tom Clancy book, so I went into this a blank slate. Without Remorse looked good- Michael B. Jordan is a terrific leading man, and I've been a huge fan of nearly everything Taylor Sheridan has written. Stefano Sollima directed the great (and underrated) Sicario: Day of the Soldado. All the pieces were in place for a long-term franchise here.

The results, though, are only good. I don't want to complain about a good movie, but with the talent involved, there's no way this doesn't feel like a bit of a letdown. The movie feels too generic. It walks down a path that we've seen many, many times before. John Clark's journey here isn't nearly as compelling as many of the Jack Ryan movies, nor the Jason Bourne movies, nor any of a host of similar movies. Now, I'd be happy to watch a dozen John Clark movies- I enjoyed this film. However, it didn't exactly get things off to the strongest start here.

I wouldn't say the story was bad by any stretch. It just felt too by-the-numbers. This really surprised me, because Taylor Sheridan is such a terrific writer. I don't know if it was the adaptation that went awry, but the movie felt predictable and never all that interesting. The bad guys felt too two-dimensional. There weren't any truly standout action scenes. I like these kinds of movies so I absolutely had fun with it, but it wasn't nearly as good as I expected.

Michael B. Jordan is very strong in the lead role, though. He has this incredible ability to project strength and toughness, but also vulnerability. It makes you care about his characters and that absolutely happens here. Jordan is definitely a star and I hope he gets to reprise this role many times in the future. I know a lot of people loved Jodie Turner-Smith here, but I just didn't see it. I loved that she was tough and could go toe-to-toe with anyway, but I didn't get a whole lot outside of that from her performance. At times, she felt too stoic, which was boring. Maybe I'll change my mind about this rising actress, but I was underwhelmed by her effort here. Likewise, I didn't really enjoy Jamie Bell in this role. I like Bell and he's a good actor, but his performance felt like I'd seen in dozens of times before. His character felt obvious and he didn't sell me on the times when he was unrealistically obtuse or difficult. It felt like the movie needed his character to act a certain way for story purposes, even though it didn't make a lot of sense. His performance often feels forced. I really like Guy Pearce and he came off slightly better, but even still, his character was painfully obvious and predictable as well. The movie really telegraphs far too much. Pearce is effective, but not great. The rest of the cast was fine. I was excited to see Colman Domingo- he's such a good actor, but he has a small, thankless role here. I would have expected to like the overall cast far more than I did.

As I said, there wasn't a single action sequence that truly impressed me. There were several solid ones, yes, but the movie needed at least one incredible, memorable scene. The scene where Jordan lights the car on fire is pretty cool. There's some decent gunfights throughout the film. The scene with the snipers is probably the highlight of the film, but I wouldn't call that great by any stretch. It's definitely intense and it helps the movie, but it needed to be better. It almost felt like the budget wasn't quite big enough- they needed more scope, more destruction.

I certainly wanted Without Remorse to be better than it was. I admit when the film ended, my initial reaction was, "Well, that was pretty good." That's not strong enough to start a franchise. That being said, Amazon has money to throw around and the post-credits scene is excellent. It perfectly sets up the next movie. While this one didn't live up to my expectations, you can bet I'm excited about the continued adventures of John Clark. I haven't read Rainbow Six, but I've heard incredible things about it and the video game series based on that novel. It's entirely possible that John Clark's introduction and backstory pulled this movie down. I'm optimistic that now that this character has been established, the next movie will be something truly to behold. I'm thankful that at the least, this was a solid start to the franchise. I haven't lost hope for future movies.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger