Sunday 23 May 2021

Without Remorse (2021) - Movie Review

The second team-up between Italian crime aficionado Stefano Sollima and revisionist Western master Taylor Sheridan finds them both dealing with familiar territory, while also refining their approach from Sicario: Day Of The Soldado. Like Soldado, it is a particularly grim look at American military efforts, and like the original Sicario, a lot of it focuses on how one soldier becomes twisted at the whims of their handlers.

Sheridan’s now-established knack for characterisation is quite lopsided here, as all of it ends up going to Michael B. Jordan’s John Kelly, but it still allows for a sharply-defined presence on-screen. As the film’s vehicle of vengeance, out to get payback on the Russian operatives that killed his team and his pregnant wife, he certainly matches the tone of the production and the arc he takes is rather interesting. He basically goes from a dependable squad leader to a reckless but capable rogue element and back again, and when the details fill in on the purpose of the missions he’s been given, it makes for properly harrowing material.

The aptitude with the action scenes definitely help with that, with effective pacing and set pieces that are sufficiently memorable. Some for good reasons (the underwater sequence is nice and tense, aided by Jónsi’s backing score), and some for sheer audacity (how John goes after the Russian national that sanctioned the attack on those close to him), but memorable nonetheless. The finale in particular sticks out in my mind, primarily because of how well-scaled the action itself gets. As John gets more and more of the shit blasted out of him, the way he dispatches the enemy steadily drops from military finesse to outright sloppiness; it’s a refreshingly realistic look at an action hero where all the bullets and fists actually show some long-term impact.

All for the sake of a story that, when you really chip away at it, is remarkably stupid. This is a Tom Clancy adaptation in brand-name only, and has been in development hell for a good two decades; at one point, Christopher McQuarrie was tapped to direct, and boy, would I love to see the alternate universe where that became reality. Sheridan’s writing style definitely shows through, like how the mechanics of chess add a bit of muscle to the larger political intrigue at work, but he was also given the not-so-great task of rewriting a script that’s been kicking around since the ‘90s. In terms of story logistics, I can definitely see that in the finished product, and with a co-writing credit from Will Staples (whose body of work consists largely of video game plotting), it helps make a bit of sense out of how any of John’s initial actions would work in any way in his favour; they’re playing by old-school action hero rules, despite the grimy coat of paint.

Ultimately, though, I think all the work put into this paid off in the end. Yeah, the specifics of the plot are almost retro in their lack of sense-making, a lot of the characters are flat, and it touches a lot of earlier points in Sheridan’s neo-Western oeuvre. But on the whole, between the well-staged action scenes, the solid characterisation for John Kelly, the terrific pacing, and the geopolitical theming that shows proper thought went into the modernisation of the original text (even if it barely resembles said text by this point), it shows Sollima/Sheridan once again as an able-bodied tag team, and Michael B. Jordan as a promising action lead. And considering a sequel has already been lined up in Rainbow Six (yes, the same property that basically defined the tactical shooter game back in the day), I’ll admit to looking forward to what comes next.

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