Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, starring Michael B Jordan, Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Luke Mitchell, Jack Kesy, Brett Gelman, Colman Domingo and Guy Pearce, is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Directed by Stefano Sollima, Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples have written the screenplay. The action-thriller is based on Clancy’s novel of the same name.
In the movie, John Kelly (Michael B Jordan) and his US Navy SEALs team are in Syria’s Aleppo to rescue a CIA operative taken hostage by ex-Russian military forces. Kelly and his team succeed in defeating the military forces and rescue him. A few months later, the officers return home to their families. John’s wife Pam (Lauren London) is pregnant, and the couple will be having a baby girl. On an unfortunate night, 4 Russian assassins murder each Navy SEALs officer who was a part of the mission in Syria.
John’s wife Pam is also murdered by the Russians who discreetly enter their house. He manages to kill three attackers and collapses before he could attack the fourth one. As John is recovering in the hospital, his former SEAL team member Lt Commander Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith), CIA officer Robert Ritter (Jamie Bell) and Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay (Guy Pearce) discuss the incident. They suspect the Russians behind the attack and believe that the fourth person is Victor Rykov (Brett Gelman).
Now begins the revenge drama in Without Remorse. John, Greer and Ritter head to Russia to find Rykov and his motive behind the attacks. That’s when they doubt that someone from the US is also responsible for everything that has happened. What is Rykov’s motive? Who from Washington, D.C is involved in the murder of the Navy SEALs and Kelly’s wife? That’s what the film is about.
Let’s talk about what works for the film. So far, Michael B Jordan has proved that he is spectacular in complex action-thrillers. He nails it with his cold and deadly stare, action sequences that help his performance to stand out. The actor has done the same in Without Remorse. The action and fight scenes are impressive. It’s nothing out of the box but probably the second best part of Stefano Sollima’s directorial.
Without Remorse struggles a lot in the story and execution department. When John Kelly loses his wife, he is out for revenge. But the writers didn’t give us any glimpse of the sorrow or heartbreak Kelly is going through. So the narrative falls flat as we have no empathy for the main character. It just seems like a guy on a mission against the Russians. We have seen such stories several times, and they are better presented.
When Kelly, Greer and Ritter discuss Victor Rykov (Brett Gelman), you think he must be some powerful and untouchable Russian assassin. But he’s hardly there for 5 minutes and is as forgetful as John’s grievance of his wife’s death. In the 109 minutes you spend watching the film, you only have one or two wow moments, and those are Michael’s action sequences. The ending is predictable, and even the mid-credit scene is quite blah!
Without Remorse: Is it worth it?
Overall, the Amazon Prime movie is without any thrill or heart-pacing storytelling and twist. The star cast is wasted with one-dimensional characters who have nothing crucial to offer. Even Michael B Jordan can’t save this weak action-thriller.
Without Remorse is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
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