Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Guy Pearce, Colman
Domingo
Matt Damon's Jason Bourne changed the American action hero overnight in
2002. Gone were the wise-cracking beefcakes, replaced by a new breed of
reluctant, emotionally tortured heroes victimised as much by their own
state as by any foreign enemy. Hollywood has been trying in vain to
replicate the formula of the Bourne movies ever since, with director
Stefano Sollima's Without Remorse the latest attempt
to kickstart a franchise set in the murky world of international
espionage.
An in-name-only adaptation of Tom Clancy's 1993 novel,
Without Remorse serves as an origin story for the recurring
Clancy character John Clark, known as John Kelly when we're introduced to
him as a Navy SEAL on a secret mission in Syria. Played by
Michael B. Jordan, Kelly is a loyal soldier who finds himself
disillusioned when his unit is kept in the dark regarding the detail that
their mission involves facing Russian soldiers.
Upon returning home to the States, the members of Kelly's unit are picked
off one by one in a series of hits (in what feels like an homage to the
opening of Commando). When a squad of assassins arrives at Kelly's home, they unwittingly
kill his pregnant wife before being taken out by Kelly – all except one
hitman who escapes. Pulling in a favour from his unit leader Karen (Jodie Turner-Smith
in a strong audition for her own Clancy-verse spin-off), Kelly acquires
some info about who might be behind his wife's murder and sets out for
revenge.
I can't say I've ever been a fan of Tom Clancy, but with the triumvirate
of the director of
Suburra
(Sollima), the star of
Creed
(Jordan) and the writer of
Hell or High Water
(Taylor Sheridan) involved, I had high expectations for
Without Remorse. Sadly it seems like all three have had something of an off day here,
delivering a movie that plays like a tired attempt to create a Bourne
rival, one whose heart isn't really in it.
Based on his work on Italian gangster epic Suburra and
under-appreciated sequel
Sicario 2, you might expect Sollima's filmmaking to be as muscular as his leading
man's torso, but his action set-pieces here feel flat and are hampered by
some confusing geography. I know his character is meant to be emotionally
hollow due to his personal loss, but Jordan sleepwalks through his role
here, with Turner-Smith owning every scene they share. Sheridan and
co-writer Will Staples have constructed the most generic story-line
imaginable - you won’t need to be a keen-eyed sniper to spot the twist
coming, as it's the same twist that crops up in all of these movies.
Hitchcock famously beat himself up over his decision to have a child
killed onscreen in his 1936 thriller Sabotage. He reasoned that he should have made the audience fear for the safety
of the boy, but once he blew him up in a bus explosion it was difficult
for the audience to engage with the rest of the movie because the worst
possible outcome had already happened. By killing Kelly's pregnant wife at
the start of Without Remorse, Sollima, Sheridan and Staples have made the very same error. That's
practically the worst thing that could have happened to our protagonist,
and it's difficult to get invested in the ensuing drama because of it.
Also, when you have a protagonist who doesn’t care if he lives or dies
once he gets revenge, it's difficult for the audience to care about his
well-being. Rather than fearing for Kelly, we're left to passively observe
as he uncovers an all-too familiar conspiracy. Besides, aren't we past
this dated trope of "fridging" the hero's female partner to inspire his
revenge?
There's a moment during a set-piece in which our heroes think they've
evaded a sniper only to discover there's a second gunman. We learn this
not because we see the second sniper, but because a character literally
yells out "There's a second sniper!!!" This is indicative of the clunky
storytelling at play here, with a plot that unfolds in a manner that
suggests the screenwriters are making this up on the fly, like a kid
constantly changing the rules to ensure he remains in a game of tag. The
twist is so obvious that you wonder why the movie didn't just show its
hand straight off. This would have made for a more suspenseful experience,
as we would have known exactly what Kelly was up against and when he was
in real danger.
Without Remorse could be confused for a TV pilot, not just in
its origin story but in its apparent lack of a budget. It takes place in a
curiously depopulated world with scenes that are all too obviously backlot
bound. Its showpiece sequence takes place in a residential district of a
Russian city, but where are the people? Didn't the budget stretch to
extras, or at least some convincing background noise?
It's difficult to imagine audiences clamouring for the further adventures
of John Kelly/Clark, as this potential franchise runs out of ideas halfway
through its first instalment.
Without Remorse is on Amazon Prime
Video from April 30th.
