Relying On A Rogue Covert Agent, ‘Without Remorse’ Plays It Too Safe The Federalist juuri nyt – The Federalist

During a classified mission in Syria, Navy SEAL John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) seizes a massive stash of illicit weapons amidst heavy fire and barely escapes with his life. He returns home to Washington, D.C. to face an even worse hell.

Russian operatives systemically hunt down and assassinate the few members of his unit who survived the Syrian ordeal. When they reach Kellys house, only his pregnant wife lay sleeping in their bed. Hearing the intruders, Kelly defensively shoots into the shadows, taking out several men but not before his wife and daughter in the womb are taken from him.

Waking up in a military hospital, he quickly demands one thing of his superior officer: All I need is a name. Give me a name! So begins Without Remorse from director Stefano Sollima (Sicario 2) which premiered last week on Prime Video. If the set-up of a rogue agent out for revenge seems familiar, maybe you too have seen the action-thriller films that clearly inspired it.

Backed by Paramount and Skydance, the Hollywood shingles behind Tom Cruises Mission: Impossible franchise, Without Remorse gives viewers a remix of 90s Jack Ryan flicks, Jack Bauer 24 heroism, and some Jason Bourne intrigue for good measure. Some hardcore action fans will surely cheer a viewing option that evades comic-book superheroes and flashy set pieces in the style of John Wick.

Yet, even with charismatic leading man Jordan, two memorable action scenes that show where they spent the eight-figure budget, and a bold third-act plot twist, Without Remorse ends up being less than the sum of its parts. Audiences have seen this before, and usually on a grander scale.

Filmmakers sought to ground this action flick in reality rather than invent a new James Bond-style franchise, yet some real-world context comes across as shallow and unrealistic.

(minor spoilers ahead)

Mirroring aspects of fictional spies like Ethan Mission Impossible Hunt, Navy SEAL Kelly carries the film as the exceptional agent-marksman-fighter who can be implicitly trusted.

Following his near-death injuries, his superior officer Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith) implores the Secretary of Defense: It is my opinion that Senior Chief Kelly is not in the right state of mind to be in the field right now. But anyone who has seen Jason Bourne or Jack Bauer on-screen knows this similar hero wont be sidelined.

Reportedly, Jordan did most of his own stunts which enables action scenes to proceed efficiently without cuts. It reflects director Sollimas approach to the story. Reality, I feel, is much more interesting than fiction, he said in a recent interview. I dont like superheroes (and) action detached from reality. I like heroes, a human being that is pushed over his limit.

To their credit Jordan is also a producer on the film two highlight action scenes emerge organically from the plot rather than the far too typical action-flick contrivance for something cool to just happen. In the first of several off-book actions, Kelly stalks the Russian Embassy and maneuvers to interrogate a key figure. The two men face-off in a burning vehicle, lending this sequence a ticking-clock urgency.

The other standout set-piece occurs when the Kelly-led team heads to Russia on a covert flight, which comes under fire and crashes into the ocean. With Kelly submerged underwater and struggling to save his fellow agents, it has a visceral tension that signals the elaborate practical effects at play here, with CGI kept to a minimum. A later sequence using similar techniques shocks viewers with its sudden turn.

Isolated scenes in Without Remorse clearly work, making it a decent option for background viewing. Yet the film lacks grounding in depicting consequences and military chain-of-command while production design feels cheaper than it should. A Navy SEAL executing an embassy official with multiple witnesses outside the D.C. airport would not likely go quickly back out into the field for starters.

The film features an incredibly involved secretary of defense, played by Guy Pearce, who personally assigns Kelly to his mission. Its strange to see a man of such an elevated position show up in various claustrophobic rooms to issue directives.

As to production design, compare the films opening depiction of bombed-out Syria, clearly shot on a studio backlot, with the detailed scope of gritty Netflix military drama Mosul. While significant portions of this movie, ostensibly set in Russia, were filmed in Germany, viewers would barely know it from how locations are used. Action scenes often occur in poorly lit hallways and back alleys. This might reflect an attempt at realism the director previously worked in TV news but if viewers cannot see much, it doesnt connect.

Renowned military spy-genre author Tom Clancy released his blockbuster novel Without Remorse in 1993, and within months the film rights were snatched up. It took almost 30 years for this movie to release, with a script little resembling the original story (Jordans character given the alias John Clark by the end was previously played decades ago by Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber).

Specifically depicting covert missions, recent Oscar winners Zero Dark Thirty and even Argo show how its possible to balance applicable real-world military context with the demands of action-thriller tropes. Truth be told, even Jordans villainous turn as Erik Killmonger in the superhero blockbuster Black Panther carries the residue of real-world geopolitical conflicts better than this Clancy-inspired flick.

In a sequel teaser that closes Without Remorse, undercover spy Clark expresses his intent to coalesce international agents into the counter-terrorist unit Rainbow Six known in popular culture as a best-selling video game franchise. With this, producers tip their hand that perhaps gamers were the movies target audience all along.

By ending two hours of supposedly grounded action by teasing an Avengers-style team-up, some confused viewers will doubtless feel a little remorse.

Rated R for violence, Without Remorse is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Josh Shepherd covers culture, faith, and public policy for several media outlets including The Stream. His articles have appeared in Christianity Today, Religion & Politics, Faithfully Magazine, Religion News Service, and Providence Magazine. A graduate of the University of Colorado, he previously worked on staff at The Heritage Foundation and Focus on the Family. Josh and his wife live in the Washington, D.C. area with their two children.

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Relying On A Rogue Covert Agent, 'Without Remorse' Plays It Too Safe The Federalist juuri nyt - The Federalist