Without Remorse (2021)

(Amazon Streaming, July 2022) Only the barest essentials of Tom Clancy’s 1993 novel Without Remorse have made it to its belated screen adaptation. Other than a revenge story featuring a special-forces Marine and some character names, the rest is something else. The period has been reset from the 1970s to the 2020s (albeit with an attitude that screams 2000s war-on-terror hysteria), with the story updated from a revenge-for-the-prostitute simple crime thriller to a man-avenging-pregnant-wife deal with a much bigger conspiracy jammed as a large-scope plot. Considering that I didn’t think as much of Clancy’s novel as his other efforts, this could have been a good thing. Indeed, at times, Without Remorse does hit upon a few effective moments. It’s hard to dislike Michael B. Jordan in whatever he chooses to play (and since Without Remorse is intended to launch a new action franchise, who can fault him for agreeing to such a project?) and he’s just as intense and effective here, with the acting chops to sustain his character as more than just an action protagonist. The film occasionally stages its showpiece action sequences rather well—there’s an “interrogated in a burning car” sequence that doesn’t make much sense but still works well, and the same also goes for an underwater sequence following a plane crash. Still, there’s an overly familiar quality to the rest of the film, which seems content to riff on decades-old melodies without doing much to update them—even in bringing the action forward to the present. But then again, this film was in development for almost thirty years, through a bewildering number of familiar stars, screenwriters and directors. Best-case scenario—Without Remorse will lead to a better sequel. But isn’t it annoying to characterize a disappointing film as perhaps, maybe, something that will lead to something better?