Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, directed by Stefano, debuted on Amazon Prime April 30, 2021. Known for his intensity and ability to bring his characters to life, Michael B. Jordan holds nothing back in his role as elite Navy Seal, John Kelly. This action packed film begins with Lieutenant Commander Karen Greer, played by Jodie Turner-Smith of Queen and Slim, and team taking on a mission in Aleppo Syria. Following orders, Kelly and the team completed a mission under false pretenses. After the mission Kelly returned home to Washington D. C.. He was ready to leave the military behind and start a new career in private security. Eventually, however, one by one members of Kelly’s team began popping up dead.
The intensity of watching Russian operatives break into Kelly’s house and murder his wife Pam, played by the talented Lauren London, while he lay listening to headphones, sleeping on his couch was fierce. Kelly’s take no prisoner attitude heightened at this point in the movie. Kelly’s sole reason for breathing from this point forward was to avenge his pregnant wife’s death. A husband without his rock, a father to be, no more, Kelly was devastated and that devastation manifested into rage and a need for revenge.
In discovering the painstaking truth behind the orders given for their mission and the fact that the government was not working with, but rather against it’s own, left Kelly feeling as if nothing and no one mattered except revealing the truth. Kelly’s most vulnerable moments rest in the realization that he had been used as a pawn in a game of war.
“I’m the one who went to hell and did their dirty work. We served a country that didn’t love us back because we believed in what it could be. We fought for what America could be, but they crossed the line; they brought their war into my home.”
Greed and the governments lack of transparency became part of the fuel that ignited the fire within Kelly. Determined to personally annihilate everyone that played a part in the death of his wife and unborn child, and atodds with his government, Kelly trusted no one. He finds an ally in Lieutenant Commander, Karen Greer. Once his hardest critic, Greer discovered that the CIA was going to end the investigation into the murder of the other team members that were killed upon return from the mission. This began to open Greer’s eyes to the possibility that everything isn’t what it seems. With the Russian operativesfree, Kelly made it his mission to bring the truth to light and remove all souls from the earth that carried out the murder of his family.
Kelly’s character endures and survives the deadliest of situations repeatedly, relying heavily on his Seal training. Drowning was a possibility more than once in this film for Kelly, the most intense being when the plane crashed in the middle of the ocean. It was his determination to retrieve survival equipment from the plane that ultimately preserved his life and the life of the others with him.
The chemistry between characters Kelly and Greer leaves room for more to come. It will be intriguing to see how the franchise unfolds. Michael B. Jordan and Jodie Turner Smith are electrifying on screen together and separately. Both actors have a true talent for immersing themselves in their roles and making every morsal of it believable.
We were also proud to see Lauren London in such a fitting role of love and support for Kelly, which gives us a glimpse of some of her true sentiments in real life, considering the loss of her husband Nipsey Hustle. — On an interview reflecting on Survivor’s Remorse, she mentioned feeling connected to the role as Pam, due to the “authenticity” she knew she could bring to the character.
Photography from the “Without Remorse” Movie Promo.