The charismatic leading man isn’t at his best in by-the-book spy thriller
“He is more dangerous and effective than any man we have in the field.” – Typical action-movie cliché line from “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse.” The Amazon Prime original movie “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse” has to be considered one of the more disappointing films of 2021 so far, given the long and rich history of entertaining adaptations of Clancy’s work and the vibrant star power of its leading man. Michael B. Jordan has plenty of opportunities to fire off weapons and flex his muscles and throw hands here, but delivers a surprisingly flat and underwhelming performance playing the kind of action anti-hero perfected by the likes of Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Liam Neeson, The Rock, Charlize Theron and we could go on forever. You know, the kind of guy or gal who often starts out as a cop or a soldier but becomes disillusioned with the system after a betrayal and goes ROGUE and also OFF THE GRID. That’s exactly the kind of cliché, er, character, Jordan portrays here. We have seen John Kelly as a supporting player in previous film adaptations of Clancy books (Willem Dafoe played him in “Clear and Present Danger” in 1994, and Liev Schreiber in “The Sum of All Fears” in 2002), but now John is front and center as the senior chief of an elite team of Navy SEALs sent into Syria to extract a CIA agent ostensibly being held captive by the Syrian Army. The ensuing rescue mission/shootout is indicative of many of the impressively choreographed but murky action sequences that permeate “Without Remorse,” where there’s lots of shouting and shooting and explosions and carnage, but it’s often difficult to keep up with the proceedings as we squint through the dust and darkness.
