Kelly wants answers — and revenge — and embarks on a crusade to find out what happened and why. The road leads to Russians, with the Secretary of Defense, Thomas Clay (Guy Pearce, deserving better), seemingly welcoming the idea of turning the soldier loose, never mind the diplomatic implications, saying, “Some situations warrant thinking outside the box.”
But “Without Remorse” thinks squarely inside the box, setting up a series of violent encounters involving Kelly, with help from, among others, a fellow SEAL (“Queen and Slim’s” Jodie Turner-Smith). The supporting cast also includes Jamie Bell as a squirrelly CIA bureaucrat, the kind whose motivations provoke understandable suspicion.
Representing a reunion of “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” director Stefano Sollima and writer Taylor Sheridan (here with Will Staples), “Without Remorse” feels a little too overtly like a Jason Bourne wannabe — at least, until a mid-credit sequence that basically lays out the blueprint for what in theory comes next.
In a way, Paramount might have done something few characters do in the movie — namely, dodged a bullet. Because while this gets by, barely as at-home escapism, setting the stage for another Clark adventure with Jordan that might be worth anteing up for a ticket, “Without Remorse” isn’t.
“Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse” premieres April 30 on Amazon. It’s rated R.