By Miguel Dominguez
Stefano Sollima’s “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse” is an action-packed thriller with poor dialogue.
The last movie Sollima directed was “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” which was a let-down from the first Sicario movie directed by Denis Villeneuve.
The movie starts off in Syria where Navy SEAL John Clark played by Michael B. Jordan, and his team are briefed on the mission by CIA Operative Robert Ritter played by Jamie Bell
After the mission, Clark notices that Ritter didn’t tell him the truth about the safehouse belonging to the Russians. In some scenes of the movie, Ritter can seem untrustworthy and forces Clark to point a gun at him in efforts to find out the truth later on in the movie.
Clark returns to the U.S. three months after their last mission in Syria. The Russians end up at Clark’s home where his expected wife Laura London, is killed.
Clark is nearly killed and he is able to get a look at one of the Russian’s faces before escaping.
The government sees no retaliation against the Russians and closes the case. But Clark plans to seek revenge on those who were involved in the killings of his wife and unborn child.
The Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay played by Guy Pearce, allows Clark and John’s former superior officer, Lt. Commander Karen Greer played by Jodie Turner-Smith, to get his revenge on the murderers.
At times, the movie can feel like a “John Wick” film with its close combat scenes.
Jordan, like Keanu Reeves, did most of his stunts for the movie. The close-up fight scenes make it look real.
The movie has some similarities to the “Bourne” movies as well. Clark obviously knows what he is doing while the viewers are left guessing his next move.
The scene where Clark escapes swiftly, felt like a bit of a let down because he is seen walking in the opposite direction while medics are helping the wounded who are coming out, but no one checks on limping Clark and that is how he escapes.
Another “Bourne-like” scene is when Clark is walking in a crowd and the camera is focused on him but then he disappears. This wasn’t necessary.
There are some suspenseful scenes that strengthen the movie, like when the plane is shot down by a jet leaving them crash landing in the water. Or, when Clark’s team is ambushed by snipers and need to fight their way through.
Although those fight scenes seem exciting, the dialogue could have been improved.
Taylor Sheridan, known for writing both Sicario movies, and writer Will Staples needed to improve some of the scenes with better dialogue. The movie is sort of predictable when trying to figure out who may have been involved in the killings of Clark’s wife, which may lead to some viewers already knowing how it will end.
Overall, the movie was an average action thriller, but not a must-see movie.
There is an unnecessary post credits scene that shows that the characters are coming back– this could have been put in before the credits began.
Viewers can stream Tom Clancy’s “Without Remorse” only on Amazon Prime.