Action thriller with Michael B. Jordan on Prime Video divides opinions, but wins over those who just want pure adrenaline

The sequence of incidents that opens “Without Remorse” leaves in the air a feeling that someone has decided to activate the automatic mode of foreign policy: nebulous operations, poorly defined threats and a trail of decisions taken by figures who never face the concrete result of their own choices. John Kelly, played by Michael B. Jordan, appears on this board as the typical agent who knows firsthand the human cost of these moves. He leads a team of Navy SEALs called to rescue a suspected American agent in Aleppo, only to discover that the kidnapping had a Russian signature. The episode, instead of ending a mission, inaugurates a thread of consequences that will advance relentlessly until it destroys the character’s personal life.

From that point on, the film follows Kelly in an emotional freefall, precipitated by the brutal attack that kills his pregnant wife and leaves him on the brink of death. It is the type of coup that, in the logic of international action, is usually recorded in cold reports; here, however, the impact takes shape in Jordan’s eyes, who interprets the character’s pain without melodrama, just with that deep tiredness of someone who realizes that the system to which he dedicated years does not hesitate to crush its own soldiers. The script links this loss with the investigation led by Karen Greer, played by Jodie Turner-Smith, whose presence reinforces the tension between the discipline of institutions and the human urgency to seek justice.

The narrative thickens when Kelly, still convalescent, demands to participate in the hunt for those responsible for the deaths of his companions and his family. There is no benevolence in this request; it is a survival drive. The film places him in a hybrid territory, in which he no longer knows whether he is serving the country or just his own need to understand who fabricated the entire sequence of betrayals. The dynamic with Robert Ritter, played by Jamie Bell, adds a layer of distrust: every interaction between them seems constructed to test how well Kelly tolerates the strategic ambiguities that surround him.

Director Stefano Sollima intensifies this feeling of instability by creating action scenes that function as shards of information: arduous confrontations, operations in hostile territory and an aerial scene that amplifies the moral disorientation of those involved. Still, the film makes no secret of the fact that its true driving force is always Kelly, torn between the military duty that shaped his identity and the resentment that now drives him with a dangerous lucidity. The overall structure of the plot also suggests that the political pieces behind the attacks depend on constant friction between the United States and Russia, using expendable soldiers as a currency of calculation.

Even as the plot reaches its conclusion on Russian soil, the logic that drives Kelly remains restless. The revelation about the intentions behind the operation does not come as a surprise, but it causes a shift: it makes it clear that, for some agents of power, the conflict is not a failure of the system, but rather its favorite gear. The film ends this arc with Kelly taking on a role that distances him from the obedient soldier he once was. He begins to act with the uncomfortable awareness that institutions can manipulate threats to support political narratives, but also with the perception that someone needs to break the cycle or, at least, expose its components.

The result is an experience that combines vigorous action with a bitter reading of the structures that sustain state violence. It is not the promise of redemption that remains after the credits, but rather the question that the film leaves hanging: how many global conflicts are born precisely from the convenience of keeping them going? The answer may never be fully satisfactory, but following Kelly during this rupture is enough to realize that the most lasting wars are those fought far from visible battlefields.