The Movie: Without Remorse
The Director: Stefano Sollima
The Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Jamie Bell, Guy Pearce, Lauren London, Todd Lasance, Jacob Scipio, Colman Domingo, Alexander Mercury, Brett Gelman, Merab Ninidze
The Story: A Navy SEAL goes on a path to avenge his wife's murder only to find himself inside of a larger conspiracy.
The Review:
This movie has all the makings of taking the Tom Clancy cinematic universe into an entirely new direction with Michael B Jordan at the forefront and all kinds of story angles to explore. I was hopeful that this film could be something special even if it's not on the level of the big blockbuster franchises. Then I realized that Stefano Sollima is the guy who made the sequel to Sicario and pretty much crushed any hopes of that franchise moving forward so my hopes and expectations were lowered to a new and hopefully acceptable level.
Michael B Jordan is going to be one of the premier movie stars of the next decade, there's really no doubt about that. When he is paired up with Ryan Coogler, he is pretty much unstoppable although he has yet to prove that he can bust out that mega star power without the director's direction and this movie unfortunately is no exception. I don't know what it is, but everything about this movie just seems like it's all turned down a few notches from what it should be. It's like you're expecting some really good, spicy food that's just bursting with amazing flavors and what you end up with is a giant bowl of Karen's potato salad. Yes, I went there and it's a very fitting analogy.
I think the main issue I have with this film is that there's nothing original about it in any way, shape, or form. Every scene, I was like, oh this reminds me of that other movie but they did it better so why is this movie even trying. I will say, there's a pretty cool fight scene inside of a prison cell that establishes just how badass Jordan's character is but, once that's out of the way, everything else is pretty standard stuff. I am hopeful that this movie is on a smaller scale so it actually has something to build up to over time and with multiple sequels. The story definitely sets things up for bigger and better things.
The Verdict:
Without Remorse is a solid mid level spy thriller that sets the stage for bigger things in the future but lacks in originality and could have been so much more. The movie is a much better fit for streaming platforms than it would have been for big screen theater exhibition so releasing on Amazon makes sense.
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