Movie Review – Without Remorse – Pulsating Revenge Drama
Table of Contents
My Rating – 3 out of 5
Plot Summary – Without Remorse
This movie is the latest addition to the Jack Ryan universe from Tom Clancy’s much acclaimed series. Clear and Present Danger and The Hunt for Red October were the other big screen adaptations from the series and clearly they are in a completely different league of their own. This is lacking in the cerebral aspects of the earlier versions, though admittedly, it is based on a different book so different results were to be expected. This is an out and out action pot-boiler, with the usual clichéd motives and conspiracy theories thrown in for good measure.
The movie kicks off with a company of Navy Seals – led by Chief John Clark (Michael B. Jordan) and Lieutenant Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith) – extracting a hostage from Russian troops deep somewhere in war torn Syria. They lose a team member and they realize that this was no ordinary Russian hideout, it was a military arms depot. However, on return to mainland US, just as the Seals start enjoying a well earned downtime, tragedy strikes. A team of Russian Hitmen target the Seal team members and kill them off one by one.
But in case of Chief Clark – his pregnant wife Pam (Lauren London) is killed. John survives and so does one member of the intruding team, who escapes into the night. Upon recovery from his injuries, John, as expected, decides to go after the killers. But it is not as clear cut as it would seem, the CIA have no clue who led the team that attacked the Seals and John has to investigate. removing layers from the web of conspiracy that surrounds the attack, particularly when National Security and Diplomatic relations are at stake, nobody wants to stick their neck out.
Chief Clark finally manages to wrangle a deal with the Secretary of Defense and the CIA top brass that allows him to go on a mission to ferret out the Russian Assassin and exact revenge for the brutal killing of his family and his Team. The CIA representative Robert Ritter (Jamie Bell) accompanies the team, and Clark has his doubts on Ritter’s intentions but no solid proof. But the mission seems doomed to fail right from the start and Chief Clark realizes that nothing is what it seems to be and thus the outcome of the mission is not what he thought it would be!
Conclusion – Without Remorse Movie Review
Like I mentioned at the beginning, this wasn’t meant to be a cerebral, investigative spy thriller and it lives upto its billing as an Action Thriller. The action sequences are well coordinated, with a lot of effort having gone in to replicate the excellence and discipline of a Seal team, in extraction or in infiltration. Michael B. Jordan is excellent in his character and so is Jamie Bell and Guy Pearce (as Sec Def Thomas Clay). Jodie Turner-Smith on the other hand looked uncomfortable and a little wooden.
Overall, it’s a breezy watch, with no pressure on your brain to appreciate any nuances, just end to end an fast paced action movie. If that’s what sails your boat, you’ll enjoy it all the more so because you cannot be watching only cerebral movies all the time, an escape from life’s realities warrant the viewing of this kind of stuff. In that aspect, Without Remorse perfectly fulfills the need for entertainment.
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