After his SEAL team is sent on a covert mission in Aleppo, John Kelly finds that death starts to follow him…

Although this is credited as “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse”, and there’s a credit that it’s based on the military action thriller published in 1993, there really isn’t a lot to connect this to Clancy’s work, bar a mention that Jodie Turner-Smith’s character Karen is the niece of Clancy regular (and Jack Ryan mentor) Jim Greer. There’s no killed former prostitutes, or battles against drug runners per the original novel. Instead Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples’ screenplay is a pretty much by the numbers story of CIA double-dealing and the plucky loner who is motivated to get involved by the deaths of those around him, and ends up not just getting to the bottom of the mystery when others with far more resources can’t, but also takes out the relevant bad guys.

That doesn’t mean it’s not an entertaining enough 100 minutes – Michael B. Jordan gives some depth to John Kelly, while Jamie Bell is a deeply unpleasant CIA spook, and Turner-Smith makes a good SEAL commander (even if as of 2021 there aren’t any female SEALs). The action sequences, notably the shooting down of an aircraft and everything that follows, are put together well, although the competence of certain parts of the legal infrastructure is put in doubt on more than one occasion.

Verdict: With a mid-credits scene that suggests a more ensemble based sequel, this is an enjoyable enough way to pass 100 minutes. 7/10

Paul Simpson