Without Remorse is the latest Amazon original film and the newest film in Tom Clancy’s connected world, including Jack Ryan. Sadly, it’s the worst Tom Clancy film so far. I really wanted to love this film because the trailers were intense, and I’m a fan of this world, but Without Remorse ultimately left me very disappointed. It doesn’t even come close to the worst Jack Ryan film, the Ben Affleck starring The Sums of All Fears. There were flashes in there that this could have reached The Hunt for Red October or Patriot Games levels, but it just wasn’t able to get it all to click.
The film follows John Clark (Jordan), a former Navy SEAL turned CIA operative, who seeks revenge after a Baltimore drug lord kills his girlfriend.
Michael B. Jordan is a movie star, and he proves it here once again. He looks the part and does a great job coming off like a complete badass and believable in the role. The jail cell scene we saw in the trailer was a highlight, and I found myself grinning during it. Sadly for all the good in the action sequences, I wasn’t feeling his work outside of those scenes.
Jamie Bell is solid as usual and gives the second-best performance in the film. The problem o had with his character is that it took a while for him to grow on me. He was a whatever character for the first two-thirds of the film, but I liked him thanks to the third act. He had an excellent progression as the film went on.
Stefano Sollima does a solid job with the action scenes, including an airplane sequence that had me all in. I feel with a bigger budget; he could have delivered something special. I’ll say the first 20-30 minutes were excellent, and I’ll go as far as saying I loved the film, but then it went off the rails for me. The pacing was so off, I found myself bored at times and not fully invested in the story like I thought I would be. The film runs 109 minutes, but it felt a lot longer.
The film’s script is so bad. It’s filled with almost every genre cliche imaginable. If you’ve seen enough of these CIA/ spy films, you will spot almost every big reveal a mile away. Some of the moments were so predictable that it took me out of the film and angered me that they made it obvious. It saddest news that Taylor Sheridan co-wrote this film. I’m a big fan of his thanks to his work on Hell or High Water, Wind River, and the Sicario films. I feel the best part of the film’s script was his doing, and I’m entirely blaming his co-writer Will Staples, who has a background of writing for video games and TV, and it shows.
The dialogue is so bad that not even the film’s talented cast could make it work. I liked Jodie Turner-Smith a lot in Queen & Slim, but that brilliance I saw in that film wasn’t evident here. She wasn’t terrible, she was okay, and this wasn’t the follow-up I wanted from her. Don’t get me started on Guy Pearce, who was utterly wasted here. His character is a walking cliche, and that’s all I’ll say without spoiling the film.
Without Remorse is not only the worse Tom Clancy film ever but the worst Michael B. Jordan film since Fant4stic. It is meant to be a franchise starter for Jordan, as he signed up for two films, with the follow-up being an adaptation of the famous Rainbow Six. Hopefully, that is better than this as the material and source for better quality are there. Amazon is the perfect home for this film because of John Krasinski’s Jack Ryan series that airs on the streamer. I wouldn’t be surprised if they find a way to blend them like the books and previous films have.
