Movies: Without Remorse (Amazon)

[MadDevil]

Anybody else watch this yet? It's based on the Tom Clancy novel, starring Michael B. Jordan.

Overall I thought it was okay. It's your basic revenge thriller type movie. The story was pretty meh, but the action was decent. I think I like the Jack Ryan series better as something based off the Clancyverse.

Click to read more...

 

[SniperHF]

Sounds like they butchered the story, hardest of passes.

They could have modernized it without turning it into a generic international conspiracy/revenge story quite easily.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

I never cared for the book but it sounds like they basically did away with most of it

No real interest in it and reviews seem to say its a middle of road action/revenge film

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I don't know much about Clancy or this film, but I was trying to watch a Van Damme masterpiece last night and Tubi was bombing me with ads for this, really wanting me to switch film. I'll see it at some point for sure, I like MB Jordan.

 

[RandV]

Sounds like they butchered the story, hardest of passes.

They could have modernized it without turning it into a generic international conspiracy/revenge story quite easily.

That's what I was thinking but I don't know. I loved the book when I read it 20 years ago, with John Clark playing Rambo by day and moonlighting as the Punisher at night, and you can do that with a lengthy novel or a TV series but for a 2 hour movie it's a bit convoluted.

I haven't and likely won't see the movie, and am only interested because I liked the book, but considering the constraints here and the need to adapt it to the book while I was at first turned off by the plot line after giving it more thought merging the wife/run away prostitute and the covert missions/pimp vigilante story lines does make sense.

 

[Osprey]

That's what I was thinking but I don't know. I loved the book when I read it 20 years ago, with John Clark playing Rambo by day and moonlighting as the Punisher at night, and you can do that with a lengthy novel or a TV series but for a 2 hour movie it's a bit convoluted.

Supposedly, the movie hints at a sequel. I wonder if Paramount may choose to follow the movie up with a series, instead, especially since this is getting mixed reviews.

 

[MadDevil]

That's what I was thinking but I don't know. I loved the book when I read it 20 years ago, with John Clark playing Rambo by day and moonlighting as the Punisher at night, and you can do that with a lengthy novel or a TV series but for a 2 hour movie it's a bit convoluted.

I haven't and likely won't see the movie, and am only interested because I liked the book, but considering the constraints here and the need to adapt it to the book while I was at first turned off by the plot line after giving it more thought merging the wife/run away prostitute and the covert missions/pimp vigilante story lines does make sense.

You might want to skip it then. It's about as based on the book as The Sum of All Fears was to it's novel (although I haven't read Without Remorse in probably 15 years so I might be forgetting parts of it). I'm actually more interested in what it seems to be setting up, although if the same people are doing that as well, maybe less so.

 

[John Price]

lot of people unhappy it deviated so much from the literature

 

[kihei]

Hack work and a total waste of Michael B. Jordan.

 

[4thline]

That's what I was thinking but I don't know. I loved the book when I read it 20 years ago, with John Clark playing Rambo by day and moonlighting as the Punisher at night, and you can do that with a lengthy novel or a TV series but for a 2 hour movie it's a bit convoluted.

Supposedly, the movie hints at a sequel. I wonder if Paramount may choose to follow the movie up with a series, instead, especially since this is getting mixed reviews.

I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would, was fine as a standalone thriller, and with the tone of the movie (action heavy) the arc they're setting up with spoiler: the direct segue to Rainbow 6, skipping Clark's CIA tenure makes some sense. Adapting Clancy novels has never been an easy thing, and while what they're doing is definitely a cop out, it works in a way.

That being said, this was a huge missed opportunity to make some incredible TV. Amazon's Jack Ryan was a perfect template to take the spirit of the character/world and map it onto the modern era. The John Clark arch could have made three fantastic seasons

S1- Without Remorse - keep the dual storylines of vigilante and CIA contractor, it's what makes the story so compelling. Could easily sanitize the vigilante storyline by making it his wife with the investigation being squashed my crooked cops/judge/political ties of the dealer organization he's taking down. Instead of Vietnam POW's move the CIA op to the middle east. End the season with the fully sanctioned death of John Kelly and resurection of John Clark

S2- Clark's CIA life- similar to Jack Ryan, come up with a Clancy esque plot (something from one of the books written after his death would work) that works in the 2020's,throw in a Krasinski cameo or two as Jack Ryan

S3- Have him join Rainbow 6, given the shortened timeline make it in the Chavez role as team lead rather than project director.

 

[Viggo Mortensen]

Liked it, we haven't had a ton of good movies in the last 15 months. Sometimes you just gotta enjoy the ride and have fun.

 

[Osprey]

I was impressed that a movie with so much action and tension could be so uninteresting. I don't know if it was the writing or the direction, but Jordan's lack of charisma really didn't help, especially since we're supposed to feel for his character. Some of that is on the script, but I also expect an actor to elevate a poor script, not just be a victim of it.

It was also a bit hard to buy the character as an elite soldier when he was so reckless, like not using cover (and paying for it) and walking towards a person with an armed bomb. He should've died half a dozen times, but was improbably saved at the last second several times. I like when a hero gets injured and seems mortal, but this pushed it a little too far, to the point that he almost seemed immortal.

The whole thing was watchable, IMO, but mediocre and generic. It felt like a script that had been kicking around since the 90s (which it was) and made as a straight to streaming movie (which it wasn't; Paramount made it for theaters and sold it to Amazon only because of the pandemic).

Oh, here we go. It was produced by Akiva Goldsman, known for many recent winners (like Transformers: Last Knight, The Dark Tower, Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard), and co-written by a guy who wrote the scripts for several video games (including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3). That explains a lot.

Speaking of a sequel, it turns out that this was planned as the first of a two-part film series:

Spoiler

"In 2017, it was announced that Akiva Goldsman signed on with the same studio to produce another film adaptation starring Clark, Rainbow Six. On September 20, 2018, Michael B. Jordan was announced to be playing the character in a two-part film series, which will be composed of Without Remorse and Rainbow Six and produced by Goldsman, Jordan, Josh Appelbaum, and Andre Nemec."

 

[Smelling Salt]

It was very meh with some awkward acting in places and the action wasn't even anything great. The constant ads for it everywhere did suck me into watching it though, so that worked.

 

[Anthrax442]

Im watching it right now. It's just okay. I got to saw I enjoy the SEAL team show a lot better than this.

 

[Puck]

I think I enjoyed this more than most. I'm not a huge fan of Tom Clancy's but I liked Red October and other films based on his novels. I had recently watched the film Nobody and did not like it for some reason (while many others did); I had a difference of opinion with the poster Osprey in another thread. I thought, maybe it's a mood thing on my part. So I settled in to watch Without Remorse with popcorn and Diet Coke at hand, determined to keep a positive attitude and not let small things bother me.

Overall, I thought, if this is a made-for-tv movie, it is exceptionally well done; if it is a bigger budget feature film or theatrical release, it is just average but still ok. I thought it was the former (an Amazon series) but turns out it is really the latter (Paramount film).

The flick is getting mixed reviews, some like it, others don't. I went in watching this determined to suspend my negative views ( I can get those at times lol) and to enjoy it. Given all that power of positive thinking I can happily report that I did enjoy it.

The film did not follow the book closely, it more of an adaptation based on the novel. But they kept the larger themes intact (revenge play, Russian paranoia, inside the Beltway treachery, lots of shooting). In the Tom Clancy universe, Jack Ryan and John Clark are Clancy's alter-egos. Jack Ryan is the smart office type (strategic) whereas John Clark is Clancy's Rambo type persona (more physical and deadly). This is a 'Clark' movie.

Keep your expectations in check, if you are expecting a blockbuster film then you might be disappointed; probably why Paramount sold it to Amazon for first release (it's not a blockbuster). But as a prequel for a probable upcoming made for TV series, it's ok. I liked it.

 

[Dolemite]

I think I enjoyed this more than most. I'm not a huge fan of Tom Clancy's but I liked Red October and other films based on his novels. I had recently watched the film Nobody and did not like it for some reason (while many others did); I had a difference of opinion with the poster Osprey in another thread. I thought, maybe it's a mood thing on my part. So I settled in to watch Without Remorse with popcorn and Diet Coke at hand, determined to keep a positive attitude and not let small things bother me.

Overall, I thought, if this is a made-for-tv movie, it is exceptionally well done; if it is a bigger budget feature film or theatrical release, it is just average but still ok. I thought it was the former (an Amazon series) but turns out it is really the latter (Paramount film).

The flick is getting mixed reviews, some like it, others don't. I went in watching this determined to suspend my negative views ( I can get those at times lol) and to enjoy it. Given all that power of positive thinking I can happily report that I did enjoy it.

The film did not follow the book closely, it more of an adaptation based on the novel. But they kept the larger themes intact (revenge play, Russian paranoia, inside the Beltway treachery, lots of shooting). In the Tom Clancy universe, Jack Ryan and John Clark are Clancy's alter-egos. Jack Ryan is the smart office type (strategic) whereas John Clark is Clancy's Rambo type persona (more physical and deadly). This is a 'Clark' movie.

Keep your expectations in check, if you are expecting a blockbuster film then you might be disappointed; probably why Paramount sold it to Amazon for first release (it's not a blockbuster). But as a prequel for a probable upcoming made for TV series, it's ok. I liked it.

Since when did a book follow A Movie 100%?

Also, the after credits scenes pretty much tells you the direction this movie is going next.

 

[Puck]

Since when did a book follow A Movie 100%?

Also, the after credits scenes pretty much tells you the direction this movie is going next.

I suppose you meant, since when does a movie follow a book 100%.

I suppose most don't, it just depends on degrees before the complaints start. This one was hacked considerably.

And I agree, the hidden clip inside the end credits almost guarantees that there will be sequels.

 

[Dolemite]

I suppose you meant, since when does a movie follow a book 100%.

I suppose most don't, it just depends on degrees before the complaints start. This one was hacked considerably.

And I agree, the hidden clip inside the end credits almost guarantees that there will be sequels.

Rainbow Six video game related sequels.

 

[MadDevil]

Rainbow Six would be better as a series than a movie.

 

[Osprey]

Rainbow Six video game related sequels.

I imagine that it'll be based on the Rainbow Six novel, not the games. That was also the second novel (after Without Remorse) to focus on John Clark, so we didn't really need the mid-credits scene to guess at what the sequel would be about.

 

[4thline]

Rainbow Six would be better as a series than a movie.

The whole John Clark story would have been better as a high production value series

 

[tacogeoff]

solid 6/10. the acting was not great. I couldn't get attached to any of the characters and it just felt like a generic action movie i have seen before. I breezed through it but was not blown away by it. It is alright if your bored and just want to watch something mindless.

 

[CaptainCrunch67]

meh, John Clarke was never an action hero, even in the book Without Remorse, he was hyper intelligent and would figure out how to kill you quietly from as far away as possible.

I liked without remorse, especially when he killed a drug dealer just as practice.

I liked the origin story. But he was at his best in the Rainbow 6 book when he left the environmentalists who wanted to knock down the worlds population to die in the jungle.

 

[JabbaJabba]

It's not that bad that it would make you angry or annoyed. It is just meh and forgettable. I found the big reveal to be laughable. I don't know who to recommend this to. If it deviates from the source material, I don't think Clancy fans would enjoy it much and otherwise it doesn't do anything creative or do anything particularly well that I would recommend it to other people. Maybe if you are a diehard Jordan fan you can fanboy/girl/whatever over him. And it's not like he's very good in this film.

If you are thinking about watching this, just forget it and watch something else instead.

 

[4thline]

If nothing else, the movie inspired me to pick up my copy of the book from my parents and read it again 10ish years later. Still excellent