Without Remorse Review

Amazon Studios delivers the kind of movie Hollywood just doesn't make much anymore with "Without Remorse." It's exactly the brand of expensive thriller that you'd expect when you see the name Tom Clancy above the title. Most pictures mask all messages with superheroes and commercial humor for maximum mainstream potential, more often than not worried more about being politically correct than being about politics.

Even without the politics, every threat here feels real, or at the very least remotely possible, even though I know it's nothing more than cinematic-poppycock. When people get shot down they stay down. There are no robots or men in rubber suits or aliens or genetic monsters. This, my friends, is a good example of an out-of-fashion genre: the grounded, dead-serious governmental thriller. And even with its antiquated agenda from its musty, pre-9/11 source material, I was onboard for the entire ride, popcorn in one hand and a soda in the other.

Rooms filled with powerful people talk about the current threat, and as a movie-goer, you know at least one of them is the actual antagonist. When Navy Seal John Kelly, played this time by Michael B. Jordan, is found in critical condition following a home invasion by Russian professions that left his wife and unborn daughter dead, you know that by the time the final "big" action climax begins to end, we'll be right back on US soil exposing the real villain. What separates a film that works from one that doesn't is the surprise. Here, we're given three potential candidates who will inevitably meet their end at the hands of the still-in-mourning Seal, and even though I wasn't necessarily surprised at the "plot twist," I appreciated that it didn't take the easy way out.

Does that classify it as a "techno" thriller? What about "military?" "Conspiracy?" The actual adjective is irrelevant, but I'm going with "political thriller" since it, well, involves politics. The best part? It requires no more knowledge of American or world politics than what's taught by other blockbusters. "US good. Other guys bad." Ahhh, simpler times...

I might not agree with its message, but its uncomplicated with an intent to entertain rather than to educate; I like a movie that understands that we shouldn't learn about policies when the moral of the story is ultimately nothing more than watching people shoot at each other.

Jordan proves here that he's got what it takes to carry a glossy action picture. He's offered the chance to be the center of attention, not having to share the screen with others like he did in the "Creed" movies with Sylvester Stallone or with Chadwick Boseman in "Black Panther." The camera obsesses with him, his face that always seems to be holding back rage; it attracts your eyes without him needing to speak. His bulging body suggests that he's always ready to act even when he's not, tense, coiled up like he's ready to explode. He's someone who can be someone the audience can cheer for, even when this based-on-a-book character isn't playing by the books.

Ultimately, he deserves more than the slick, mass-audience entertainment that "Without Remorse" offers. I'm sure he's not too broken up about that.