When I wrote about this film several times in my reviews of news from the world of anime, movies, streaming, series etc. I was expecting a production on the level of "Tyler Rake" from Netflix - a nice movie with a simple story that you can play in the background to chat with buddies over a beer or with a girlfriend. I did not watch trailers, and the previous productions for streaming have disappointed me more than they surprised me (and I do not mean the budget, because if Netflix has to, it can shed a lot of money, they can afford it despite producing a whole lot of content of dubious quality). I am also not a fan of this type of production, and Michael B. Jordan, although he is a promising actor, has not yet made a name for himself so that I can watch films with his participation in the blind. Yes, he's good and I said it before watching this movie, but being a good actor doesn't mean a thing - good actors, like good books, movies, anime is a lot of shit. Too much to remember or know them all. So for me it looked like this - we didn't have anything to watch with my girlfriend, I didn't even have any idea what to include here, so I decided to check out "Without Remorse". I thought to myself - "well, maybe there will be a nice movie to chat and fall asleep on the bed." I was after a few beers so I would have fallen asleep like a baby. And here I was wrong once again.
Before I go to the plot description, let's give you a few words of introduction. "Without Remorse" is based on a book by Tom Clancy from 1993. I don't know the original, or his other books. However, since I was a child I have been a fan of computer games and I like the atmosphere of war, army, special services, etc. Besides, my uncle (who I sometimes mention when I write about things about my childhood) read his novels and was a fan of films based on them, so by force stuff I had some contact with this topic. I don't know if Tom Clancy is a good writer, but since he has been popular for so many years and has been eagerly drawn from his work and knowledge, he must be quite good. The movie from 2021 supposedly tells the same story (although with a few changes, but a lot has changed in almost 30 years) - the experienced commando John Kelly, who served, among others, in Syria, he was targeted with colleagues in his strike group. They are murdered by unknown perpetrators. It was unfortunate that it was not his, but the wife who was carrying their child, murdered. They had plans for a beautiful life that had been ruined overnight. John Kelly, while searching for the murder givers, falls into a deep conspiracy. A conspiracy in which both he and the people on the other side are just pawns, and the game is at a much greater stake than you might initially think. I won't say anything else. The story is not surprising, such as "Gone Girl" or full of twists and turns like the "Dark" series, but it was written so efficiently that I do not want to spoil your experience. Let me put it this - it's a fairly simple story, not too many heroes, but it was written by a good writer. I am too bad at the subject of secret services, so I won't tell you how it is in terms of realism, but I can say that it works very well as a show. A bit like "WarCraft 3" or the first "Gears of War" - a standard story that you have already seen somewhere in some form or another once or several times, but written in a good way. No unnecessary dialogues, unnecessary characters, no debts, with a properly presented world. The film keeps you in suspense from start to finish.
This is due not only to the writer, but also to the actor. As I said, although I like Michael B. Jordan for his role as Adonis Creed or Killmonger from "Black Panther", before seeing "Without Remorse", he was just a good actor for me. In fact, he is still one, but thanks to this role, I will look more favorably at the next works with his participation. I like watching him on the screen, but I don't watch movies with his participation if I am not interested in the trailer or its subject (unlike, for example, Kevin Spacey). After this movie, that is about to change. He performed surprisingly well both as a furious husband who can't help but wanting revenge and as a professional commando. There was anger, sadness, regret in him, he showed all these emotions in a real, not artificial way, which made me think of Cezary Pazura (when it comes to the emotional sphere) and Marcin Dorociński (in terms of a realistic representation of a well-trained uniform) from the latest part of Władysław Pasikowski's "Dogs". Perhaps my opinion stems from my sympathy for Michael B. Jordan or the fact that I liked "Without Remorse" - I don't know. But I know that he played at least well, but not outstandingly. As for the other actors, they are practically non-existent. Or otherwise, so that you understand me well - they have been properly created, they have their share in the story, in these and other respects I have no reason to complain, but the action focuses primarily on Kelly. They only play the role of his helpers or the NPCs he interacts with. Perhaps I belittle their roles a bit, because I didn't remember them very well because of alcohol, but even if I made a mistake, it is not a big one, because as I said, they mainly play the role of an accessory.
Despite my praise for the actor, I don't consider him the greatest advantage of "Without Remorse". In my opinion, these are action scenes that harmonize well with the script (they are specific, fast, without unnecessary additions spoiling the impression) and brutality. I didn't know the movie had an age rating of +18 so I was pretty shocked to see the first strong scene that would normally be censored or at best properly toned down and polite. It is not a gore festival, we do not have brutality straight from the newest "Rambo", Polish "Volhynia" or the recent "Mortal Kombat", but a realistic representation of what soldiers and members of special services see on a daily basis - brutality. Blood, fractures, gunshot wounds or other cases are not powdered here and we see the full sequence. Regarding my favorite scene, the moment I liked the most was when Michael caused an accident and then set the car on fire after sprinkling gasoline on it. It was strong, badass and atmospheric. As for realism, let me say this - I can be wrong, because my knowledge of the secret services and their activities is fragmentary and sketchy, but at least the film makes a good impression.We are not dealing here with One Man Army, as in the case of the aforementioned "Tyler Rake" or classics from the action movie genre. The heroes move as they should, they don't have stupid moves, they are not indestructible or omnipotent. It may not be 100% realism, but it is definitely closer to the 1st part of "Rambo" and similar productions.
All in all, this is probably the best movie I have seen in streaming (I mean the original productions) that I have seen so far. As with every Netflix production you can see that these are movies from the second league, I did not feel here as if it was a production that was originally intended for the cinema, but due to the low ratings, the studio decided to sell it to some streaming platform (or was created as an ordinary one clog of the schedule, for a change after a dozen or so series). It is not something outstanding, it will not affect your worldview or show you something that you did not know about ... Well, unless you do not know about False Flag operations,
provocations that different powers allow themselves, etc. but since you are following my blog, you probably already read about it in one of my articles. Nevertheless, it is a solid product that is hard to fault. At least I don't see anything like that - maybe you'll lead me out of my wrong impression? From me, the film gets a rating of 8/10. Solid, masculine cinema that will appeal to all those who complain about contemporary cinematography.