"Without Remorse" brawny, meat-and-potatoes geopolitical thriller

Without Remorse (2021)

Tom Clancy’s airport paperback novels and the many screen adaptations have really pulled through for a lot of dads. John Clark, Clancy’s second-favorite protagonist behind CIA analyst Jack Ryan, has previously been portrayed by Willem Dafoe (1994’s “Clear and Present Danger”) and Liev Schreiber (2002’s “The Sum of All Fears”) but never given lead status until now casting Michael B. Jordan. Adapting and updating Clancy’s 1993 novel for sociopolitical relevance, director Stefano Sollima (2018’s “Sicario: Day of the Soldado”) and screenwriters Taylor Sheridan (2016's "Hell or High Water") and Will Staples shape boilerplate cloak-and-dagger stuff into lean storytelling that might even beg for more shading. And, of course, like most things, it has to set the table for a “Clancyverse,” which lives about three blocks away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As a stand-alone feature, though, “Without Remorse” is a meat-and-potatoes geopolitical action-thriller elevated by its intense star and several thrilling, brawnily staged set-pieces showcasing Clark’s inner fire and brute force.

Before changing his identity to John Clark, this Navy SEAL was Senior Chief John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan). During a rescue mission in Syria, Kelly and his team of SEALs discover the captors of a hostage are actually ex-Russian military dealing weapons. While their CIA operative Robert Ritter (an effectively sniveling Jamie Bell) pretends to know less than he does, a Russian hit squad retaliates three months later. Kelly has retired from military combat, contently living with his pregnant wife, Pam (Lauren London), in Washington, D.C. Suddenly, members of the special ops unit begin getting picked off. Kelly is targeted, but while he is put in critical condition after gunning down two of the four snipers, Pam and her unborn daughter are both murdered. As the CIA and Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay (Guy Pearce) won’t support any further investigation into the ex-Navy SEAL assassinations on American soil, John turns to Lieutenant Commander Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith) for help and sets out to find out who was responsible. Revenge will be dished out and treasonous secrets will soon be revealed in uncovering those Russians’ plans to wage another Cold War with the U.S. 

With his magnetic presence and ability to carry a movie on his muscular lats, Michael B. Jordan is tailor-made to play John Kelly/Clark. Hence, it isn’t hard to get invested in the character’s vendetta. Quickly established to be not just a badass but a smart-ass, he shows early signs of vulnerability and then grief. Once John becomes a ruthless extractor of steely determination—and the single-minded soldier that he used to be—the film does play less to Jordan’s charisma and more to his buff action-star physicality and swagger. This character is a trained killer after all. Jodie Turner-Smith (2019’s “Queen & Slim”) lends strong support as Kelly’s no-bullshit commanding officer Karen Greer, and Guy Pearce oozes untrustworthiness even as the Secretary of Defense. Thanks to Roger Ebert’s always-right “Law of Economy of Characters,” one will be able to immediately sniff out the true turncoat villain who’s been right there all along, but his or her motive is still chillingly delivered.

Director Stefano Sollima delivers at least three effortful, cohesively staged set-pieces in terms of sheer badassery and stunt work. This might be the first movie, at least with the memory of a sieve, in which our badass hero rams a tow truck into a limo outside an airport, sets said limo on fire with a Russian diplomat (who issued the assassins’ passports) inside but then hops inside himself for a brutal interrogation with a gun to his head. Of course, John makes it out in time. Sent to prison for the crime, Kelly later readies himself, Adonis Creed-style, standing bare-chested in a prison block to fight a trio of guards by flooding the floor; it should be a fair fight, but all Kelly needs are two clenched fists. Right in the middle of the film is an armrest-clenching sequence involving a plane crash: Kelly, Greer, and a CIA black ops team, aboard a flight, are shot down by a Russian fighter plane and land in the Barents Sea. Even in the sinking underwater wreckage that Kelly swims through to retrieve gear for the mission, Sollima keeps us holding our breath.

A solid, skillful 110 minutes, “Without Remorse” does what it says on the cover. It may be a franchise place-setter, but it's refreshingly not one that fails to deliver the first time around just to save everything for the future. Before capping itself off with a Marvel-like tease of more to come, there has already been more than enough satisfaction here. The promise of seeing the unkillable John Kelly continue his next mission without any regrets as John Clark is just an extra feature. Just as long as Michael B. Jordan isn't recast.

Grade: B

Amazon Studios is releasing “Without Remorse” (110 min.) on Prime Video on April 30, 2021.