Tom Clancy's Without Remorse (2021)
Directed by Stefano Sollima
An elite Navy SEAL uncovers an international conspiracy while seeking justice for the murder of his pregnant wife.
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5 films that influenced Tom Clancy's Without Remorse
What critics say influenced Tom Clancy's Without Remorse
Loosely (and, according to fans of the book, this adaptation is barely recognisable) based on Clancy’s 1993 novel of the same name, the trailer for Without Remorse would have you believing this is a furious revenge thriller in the same vein as something like John Wick or Taken .
There’s also numerous fight sequences and shoot outs which rival John Wick and Atomic Blond , with plenty of excellent choreography and stunt work – along with a hugely tense plane crash.
From Dirty Harry to John Wick , cinema history is lousy with vigilante justice, but it’s become increasingly difficult to depict One Man’s Pursuit Of Vengeance without that One Man seeming like a fascist or a psychopath — or both.
The story feels like a mixture between John Wick and Sicario , which isn’t shocking considering the writer and director team behind this project, Taylor Sheridan and Stefano Sollima.
Both the trailer and the plot make Without Remorse seem like it's another Taken or John Wick -esque 'man on a revenge mission' action movie.
So when you see a trailer for something like Without Remorse and you note that it stars Michael B. Jordan (who reinvigorated the Rocky franchise and played one of the MCU’s best villains, Killmonger) and you read that it was written by Taylor Sheridan ( Sicario , Wind River , Hell or High Water ) and you see it’s based on a novel by Tom Clancy (whose Jack Ryan is the undisputed champ of espionage-based action-thrillers) and the trailer suggests what you’re about to see is a John Wick -style escapade of revenge-murdering, you allow yourself to hope.
The scene does remind me of “The Raid: Redemption,” and, to some extent, it’s similar to 2012’s criminally forgotten “Dredd.”
Sure, Sollima and screenwriters Taylor Sheridan ( Sicario and Hell or High Water ) and Will Staples smartly recall Clancy’s earlier themes of how governmental mistrust and mutually assured destruction in a Cold War time loop fueled the military-industrial complex.
Credit is also due to director Stefano Sollima, whose “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” was a sturdy sequel to the superior “Sicario,” and to co-writer Taylor Sheridan, who wrote both “Sicario” movies as well as the Oscar-nominated “Hell or High Water.”
We get some of that with cellphones and the like, but mostly the script from Taylor Sheridan (the sharp hand behind “Hell or High Water” and “Wind River”) and Will Staples (who’s mostly written video games such as “Call of Duty”) is a lackluster transposition steered inertly by Stefano Sollima (“Sicario: Day of the Soldado”).
Made by the same writing/directing pair, filmmaker Stefano Sollima (the Italian “Gomorrah” TV series) and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (“Sicario,” “Hell or High Water”), “Without Remorse” feels like a CIA Black Ops recruitment tool—making ruthless assassinations of faceless foreign nationals seem efficiently slick and badass—for aspiring jarheads and military contractors.
The credit for the brutal edge and canny balance goes to stellar Oscar-nominated Hell or High Water and Sicario writer Taylor Sheridan, backed by video game writer Will Staples.
Later, Taylor Sheridan took a pass at Will Staples’ adapted screenplay, though it must be said that the finished product lacks the pop of Sheridan’s dialogue in Sicario or Hell or High Water.
Sure, Sollima and screenwriters Taylor Sheridan ( Sicario and Hell or High Water ) and Will Staples smartly recall Clancy’s earlier themes of how governmental mistrust and mutually assured destruction in a Cold War time loop fueled the military-industrial complex.
Credit is also due to director Stefano Sollima, whose “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” was a sturdy sequel to the superior “Sicario,” and to co-writer Taylor Sheridan, who wrote both “Sicario” movies as well as the Oscar-nominated “Hell or High Water.”
Later, Taylor Sheridan took a pass at Will Staples’ adapted screenplay, though it must be said that the finished product lacks the pop of Sheridan’s dialogue in Sicario or Hell or High Water.
Based on Tom Clancy’s 1993 bestselling novel, Without Remorse sees Hell or High Water and Sicario writer Taylor Sheridan, reunite with Day of the Soldado director Stefano Sollima.
This is something screenwriters Taylor Sheridan ("Sicario") and Will Staples ("Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3") seem conscious of, with the plot of "Without Remorse" perfectly calibrated to be a star vehicle for Jordan, designed in the image of his most famous role while existing firmly in its shadow.
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Then again, Chris Hemsworth recently found streaming success outside the Marvel-verse in the gnarly action film Extraction .