Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse
review by Bobby Blakey
There is no denying Michael B. Jordan has established himself as one of the best young actors out there and with films like Black Panther and the Creed films he has also established his ability and carrying the action as well. His latest film Without Remorse takes him into the world of Tom Clancy and co-stars Jodie Turner-Smith and Jamie Bell with the promise of all kinds of great action. Could this film be another franchise for Jordan to shine or will it fail to complete its mission?
Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse follows an elite Navy SEAL uncovers an international conspiracy while seeking justice for the murder of his pregnant wife in Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, the explosive origin story of action hero John Clark – one of the most popular characters in author Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan universe. When a squad of Russian soldiers kills his family in retaliation for his role in a top-secret op, Sr. Chief John Kelly pursues the assassins at all costs. Joining forces with a fellow SEAL and a shadowy CIA agent, Kelly’s mission unwittingly exposes a covert plot that threatens to engulf the U.S. and Russia in an all-out war. Torn between personal honor and loyalty to his country, Kelly must fight his enemies without remorse if he hopes to avert disaster and reveal the powerful figures behind the conspiracy.
I will admit that I have never read any of the Tom Clancy’s novels but have always been a fan of the Jack Ryan films and TV series. Some may not realize that the character John Clark is part of this same universe appearing in other Jack Ryan films previously played by Willem Dafoe in Clear and Present Danger and Liev Schreiber in The Sum of All Fears. Now Jordan is taking on the role in a origin story to the character that I hear is much different than the novel. I am all in with Jordan in anything these days and infusing him into this universe I was pretty excited with the end result being pretty good.
This is a full on action flick with it spending more time in the action that much else and while it does deliver it never really pushes past the norm. I don’t know if it the original novel changed any of this up, but the overall tone of the film is more generic than it should have been with numerous glimmers that shine through to showcase that there is something more here. Jordan is excellent in the role bringing the drama and emotion to the tortured nature of
the character and of course knocks the action out of the park. The rest of the cast are fine with no one really standing out to be more than just mouthpieces to move the story.
They do not hold back on the action here with most of it straight up gun play. There are some fight sequences here and there that they opted to go with a more gritty realistic style as opposed to the flash and trash of the norm. This doesn’t help it to stand out all that much, but for me worked for the direction it was trying to go. Step away from the John Wick style action that we all hope for these days and it still works. It’s a different style that harkened back to the Harrison Ford style action with a bit more skill and training.
The biggest issue for me was in some of the klunky dialogue exchanges including one mid credit scene that works to set up a sequel, but didn’t quite feel like it matched up with the rest of the film. There was initial reports of a sequel
Rainbow Six” with Jordan returning which I hope we get but with it getting dropped to Amazon Prime instead of theatrically we shall see. I am sure there is still a good chance since they are clearly in the Jack Ryan business.
Check out Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse when it streams exclusively on Amazon Prime on April 30th.