Rating: C+
Despite being one of the best selling novelists working today, Tom Clancy’s work hasn’t exactly had a stellar cinematic run. Certainly, we can’t discount the phenomenal 90’s run of The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and Clear and Present Danger but, in the new millennium, the author has found more, steadier success lending his name to video game franchises than he has on the big screen.
Not for lack of effort, certainly. In 2002 we had the Ben Affleck-starring The Sum of All Fears, which found the future Batman stepping into the role of Jack Ryan (taking over from Harrison Ford who replaced Alec Baldwin) to save the world from nuclear war. Then in 2014 there was Shadow Recruit, starring Chris Pine in the Jack Ryan role, and which I entirely forgot about until doing research for this review.
Then, of course, there’s Amazon’s Jack Ryan TV series, with John Krasinski stepping into the Ryan role, and which might the author’s best filmic adaptation of the new century so far. With all this cinematic history, both good and bad, you couldn’t necessarily be faulted for assuming Jack Ryan was Clancy’s only literary creation.
In reality, though, Clancy, like many authors of his generation, presaged the connected universe concept so popular with movies these days by several decades. His works are interconnected hodgepodges of characters and themes with different characters taking centerstage in different novels to craft a vast world of espionage and treason. Enter John Kelly.
While the character of John Kelly has appeared in several previous adaptations of Clancy’s work—played by Willem Dafoe in Clear and Present Danger and Liev Schreiber in The Sum of All Fears—the operative is front and center in Without Remorse, which is, if nothing else, an adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel.
There’s not really any other way to put it. Clancy’s works might be fun to read but they’re all more or less cut from the same cloth. They’re filled with clear cut black and white morality, protagonists with the guts to do what needs to be done, and a simplified take on international politics that make his works easily digestible without necessarily pushing the boundaries of ethical discourse. And so it is with a Clancy adaptation.
Without Remorse feels like a throwback to 80s action movies, though certainly lacking in the absurdist panache that makes films like Red Heat or Commando hold up today. No, this is a straight forward take on a straight forward story that serves as red meat for those who prefer no hints of grey in their morality and wish for a world that fits neatly into boxes of good guy and bad guy.
Michael B. Jordan stars as John Kelly, a decorated Navy SEAL whose life is turned inside out when professional assassins accidentally leave him alive after murdering his pregnant wife. Imprisoned for an unsanctioned retaliation against those who wronged him, Kelly gets a shot at freedom when he’s asked to join a strike force whose mission it is to secure America by any means necessary.
Jordan is definitely the saving grace a film that otherwise might be as cookie cutter and banal as a film can get. His charms and talents are such that his presence elevates even the worst movies. While this is most certainly not the worst film Jordan has blessed with his presence (see also: Fantastic Four, Fahrenheit 451) it is inarguably not the best.
That said, Jordan captures the pathos of Kelly’s character the same way he might approach a role that would put him into Oscar consideration. In his hands, Kelly is elevated from militaristic fantasy to almost fully formed individual with a life and dreams of his own. It’s a testament to his abilities as an actor that can find so much to work with in what he is given here.
While what he’s given isn’t exactly subtle, it’s not also without its merits. Its script, from writers Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water) and Will Staples (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3) offers a decent enough exercise in mindless action with just enough hooks, cheap though they often might be, to keep us engaged. Director Stefano Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) proves himself adept at staging action set pieces, even if the outcomes and twists feel pre-ordained and obvious.
The result is a film that’s enjoyable enough as a time killer without ever being particularly memorable. At its worst, Without Remorse is too aware of how much it wants to be a franchise to find the focus it needs to be worthy of a sequel. At its best, it’s a solid, mediocre action film that gives us just enough entertainment to justify its two hour runtime. In the end it’s neither good nor bad. It simply is. That might be enough for fans of previous Clancy works, but it’s never quite enough to make the endeavor particularly worthwhile.
Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.
