If you’ve read my first novel, Death of Secrets, then you know I’m a fan of Tom Clancy. I was about a sophomore in high school when The Hunt for Red October came out, and I fell in love with it almost from the first page. Finally someone who was as fascinated by the details of military hardware as I was! Over the years I read all of his books — back when it was still him writing them, before his name became little more than a brand.
But Without Remorse had a special place in my heart. It wasn’t a typical Clancy novel. Yes, there was a bit of Vietnam-era tech, but overall it didn’t focus nearly as much on ships, planes, and helicopters. The novel Without Remorse is about manhood. On its face it was the story of one man’s obsession with revenge, but in the course of creating John Kelly, Clancy created something of a masculine archtype. Kelly was strong, but violent only at need. He was protective of women, but not chauvinistic. He was hyper-competent at everything he did, but always humble.
I frequently tell women of my acquaintance, “Read Without Remorse. You will understand how ever many wants to see himself.”
Amazon’s version of the story left all that out. The surface level “Obsession with revenge” theme was all their was, and the work of literature that extolled the virtues of genuine honorable masculinity was completely set aside.
It was a good action movie. I had fun. Kelly — in Amazon’s telling — is badass, and I would watch the movie again. Stronger in the first half than the second it’s still just a fun action show.
Yes, it’s a bit woke, but not in a way that bothers me. That wasn’t my chief complaint. All the meaning that made Tom Clancy’s novel the greatest of his works is not just gone. It was never there to begin with.
Every genius has flaws. Among Clancy’s was that, in his later years, he fell too much in love with his characters. The stories became more about a reunion with old friends, and less about the richly-researched details and the complex, multi-POV plot. Amazon’s Without Remorse ends on that note, with a somewhat smarmy lead in to the Rainbow 6 universe. I guess Amazon has the rights now, and intends to milk it for all it’s worth.
If you like action movies, watch Without Remorse on Amazon prime. You’ll like it. But if you want to ponder the truth of manhood, and study what it means to have been created the stronger vessel, read Tom Clancy’s novel of the same name.