“Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse,” based on the novel written by Tom Clancy, was released on Amazon Prime Video this Friday. In the movie, Navy SEAL John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) was on the cusp of fatherhood when his home was invaded by what was believed to be the Russian military, resulting in the death of his pregnant wife, Pam (Lauren London).

The loss of Pam sends Kelly on a rampage of fury to figure out not only what happened to his wife, but also get revenge on his wife and unborn child’s killer. Kelly even manages to get a felony charge in his path, but is quickly taken out of prison to help assist in the case. 

Kelly, however, is not alone; other former Navy SEALs were victims of the same attackers that killed Kelly’s wife. This eventually results in the uncovering of a Russian special forces officer (Brett Gelman) who was previously thought to be dead until Kelly saw him escape his house after the killing of his wife. CIA officials believed that the Russian officer thought the West could be taken down by attacks on American soil. 

When the CIA and the Department of Defense get hold of this information, they decide to send a team over to Russia to find said Russian special forces officer. In this journey, there are several roadblocks that get in the way — specifically, Russian snipers. However, the buildup and the shooting scenes themselves do nothing to enhance the plot. 

Essentially, there is just shooting after shooting, which is to be expected in any action movie. The case is different in “Without Remorse” because these scenes functionally contributed nothing to the plot, as several minutes would pass when the team of soldiers would be shooting at one single sniper — making parts of the movie rather boring.

The central theme of the film is that Kelly is simply a pawn of the government. Violence and war took place not abroad, but in Kelly’s own home — where he listened to music while his pregnant wife slept and where he intended on raising his unborn daughter. Kelly references many times how he served his country in hopes of protecting the nation for a better future, and as the story progresses, Kelly learns how politics and government corruption made him the nation’s pawn in a larger story.

The soundtrack and score provided the perfect eerie vibe in the beginning of the film; however, it is not very notable throughout the rest of the film, which potentially plays a role in the dullness of some scenes. The picture and cinematography are phenomenal and captured exactly what I would think a post-Cold War Russia would look like. 

The novel “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy was published in 1993. Readers all around found the book an engaging read, and the book debuted as number one on the New York TImes Best Sellers list on Aug. 29, 1993 after it was published earlier that month. 

While the book “Without Remorse” by Tom Clancy was an action-packed hit, the movie adaption remains rather dull. Despite its dull nature, the movie’s theme of Kelly being a pawn of the American military system shows why the military should be kept accountable for mistakes to prevent potential misuse of power.