song: revenge by joyner lucas

dedicated to: rusmila15 spacezlays TheWattKitty ninalikesroses for checking out my first prose book, "body."

special dedication to: dosadenmiezivotot because the reading list name you added my story 'body' to cracked me up: "All the books in my library that i need to either read or get rid of 4."

super special dedication to: RuthieBalo because bruh.. i didn't even do anything but i have been met with nothing but positivity and support from this user. read, vote and comment on RuthieBalo's stories too! 

i appreciate you all! <3

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so as none of you probably know, i have amazon prime video. i have no other streaming service, which is highly depressing, so i watch random stuff on prime. 

not gonna lie, they do have some gems on there, but the stuff i really want to see is often on other services because they're always playing with consumers' emotions with their annoying rights wars. 

anyway, without remorse was advertised for a brick and though the trailer did not really interest me, i decided to give it a try. besides, school ended so i'm just kind of.. existing without constantly having school work to tend to and for some reason i've gotten into the habit of watching random or weird movies.

without remorse is a movie following the story of michael b. jordan, who starred in hit movies like black panther, creed, and just mercy, and a bit of his friend, jodie turner-smith, who starred in queen & slim and will play anne boleyn. 

in the movie, jordan's name is john and turner-smith's name is karen. to be honest with you guys, the names kind of through me off because they're oddly generic and whatnot, but.. it was a white dude in the book (spoiler alert: i didn't read it), so i guess. 

that's not to say that pocs cannot have the names john or karen, but man was learning their names odd to me at first.

also, i haven't seen many tom clancy movies, but i do have a book of his and have seen his video games. 

dude is no joke.

i won't lie, dude lowkey wrote the same stories over and over, but he did it so well that it worked for him. clancy was a big name author, so when there's a film adaptation of one of his books, you know it has to be good or his fans will be pissed.

speaking of being pissed, the movie probably faced immediate backlash because a black man was casted as john, who is supposed to be white, but i don't care. cry me a river.

honestly though, that backlash is unwarranted and stupid. if we're gonna bash the movie at all, it should be because of how boring and unfulfilling it was. 

i hope when i finally take the time to watch tom clancy's jack ryan, i won't feel the same disappointment. judging by its reviews and how it looks though, i'm pretty sure it won't let me down. some people don't like season two though, so maybe my like for it will plummet, who knows?

my initial thought going into the movie was that i probably would not like it much and it would not impress me, and i was right. i watched it on may 12, 2021 a little before 6pm or so and i kinda regretted it :)

let me tell you why.

⋆ for an action movie, it was pretty boring. sure, there was plenty of action and i'm proud of michael b. jordan because he trained for and committed to the role, but i've gotta say, it was not it. the action itself was sometimes ridiculous and senseless too.

⋆⋆ i mean, you're telling me john really got into a dude's car after setting it on fire and destroying most of the environment around it, then shot the dude in the neck?? 

⋆ i thought they gave john a clear cut motive for revenge and the plot was simple, but it took a dry way to get there. overall, it was a pretty dry movie. i didn't feel any emotional connection to any of the characters whatsoever, and john was literally in the house when his pregnant wife got murdered.

⋆ speaking of his wife, i feel like she got taken away too quickly. the movie's pace seemed okay, but it was difficult to feel his grief when she died because they didn't make her super lovable or build up her character. obviously, action movies are usually somewhat fast paced, but i dunno, she was just there and then she wasn't. the movie didn't give off the same vibes as any of the movies in liam neeson's taken series, which the story is pretty similar to. 

⋆ which brings me to my next point- it's the same trope as usual just with a different character. the film was a "been there, done that" type of movie in the sense that movies like this have been made already with the same storyline. this movie didn't really add anything new or leave some influential, lasting impact. it was predictable and kind of wack. 

⋆ i thought the cast choices were pretty interesting too. without remorse had some pretty great actors, but they seemed out of place, like they were out of the movie's league or something. it was just weird to see "queen" from queen & slim and "adonis creed" from creed play such mediocre roles. it didn't help that some of the actors had super cheesy lines either.

⋆ and what was with that one dude played by jamie bell? he's made out to seem like an antagonist when in reality he's just a pawn who continues withholding information and being an idiot until he finally decides to help at the end of the movie, when they're all close to death. 

⋆ that part didn't even fill me with dread, by the way. they're all literally pushed up against walls, set up to be americans killed on russian soil to start a war, but the scene did not bring forth an ominous feeling that all was lost. i mean, that's the point, right? that is one of the parts of a screenplay. you're supposed to have a feeling of dread because the protagonist is done for. it's the end, or so it seems, before something happens to change all of that around. 

⋆ lastly, the ending was super anticlimactic. i mean, john achieved his revenge mission and survived, but.. that's it. he gets a new identity and gets to disappear, be a ghost. good for him, i guess? 

let me be positive though. there were a select few good scenes, and when i say few, i mean it. 

michael b. jordan played this role nicely though i do feel as though this was not one of his best movies or performances. just my opinion🤷🏽‍♀️  again, with many of the action scenes being a bit extra, the movie seemed a bit ridiculous, predictable, and unbelievable. this action scene where he fought prison guards was dope though:

https://youtu.be/PvmTaQSZ--E

this clip doesn't show it, but when karen came to speak to him right after the marshall and asked him if he was going to keep fighting guards, john just said, "i'm done." i dunno why but it cracked me all the way up. 

this scene is pretty cool too, mostly from a cinematography point of view. the scene is about a plane crashing and some people die, so don't watch it if you can't handle that. 

https://youtu.be/B-km6x9D2rE

my favorite scene of the movie is when karen grabbed john's arm and twisted it, forcing him onto his knees. the scene happened on the plane before it crashed. i just thought it was funny because she's like don't mess with me, i can still eff you up, and i love that. 

they made her character mad dry though. all in all:

so, long story short, i think jordan did his thing but y'all, let's be real here. 

the movie was just not it. it was way too weak. i know some people really liked it, but from most of the comments i've seen of people who did, they really just like michael b. jordan.

if you're like me and are into reading movie reviews after watching films to see different perspectives, boy have i got news for you! i picked a perfect review, but unfortunately, it's only to fulfill my agenda, mwah ha ha ha! 

sorry, it was hard to find an actual good one. if you can't tell, i truly don't care much about this movie so i didn't want to waste any more time searching, plus i thought this review and its comments were pretty on point. 

as always, thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts!

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you know the drillio:

❝ the best revenge is massive success. ❞ - frank sinatra

❝ the axe forgets, but the tree remembers. ❞ - african proverb

❝ 'revenge' sounds so mean, that's why i prefer to call it 'returning the favor.' ❞ - unknown

ah, the taste of sweet, sweet revenge. tangy, innit? anywhozies, i love you <3

a/n

idea:

⋆ from phone note on may 12, 2021/written on may 23-24, 2021/posted on may 24, 2021. y'all it took me forever to finish and post this. i got distracted a million times😅  also, i have two classes now and will have two more later in the summer. tears. 

⋆ if there's one thing you should know about me, it's that i love love love watching movies. recommend some to me mah dudes!

preguntas:

⋆ is there a topic you'd like me to think over in depth and talk about? let me know in the comments! i'm always down for research and educating myself.

⋆ how're you feeling? do you love yourself right now? if not, i hope you do soon. keep working on you. as i used to say in middle school, "stay true and be you." <3

announcements:

reading requests that i'm super late on actually getting to:

⋆ check out voiceofspiced's profile. this writer has taken a break from writing but has more chapters and a new book in the works. 

⋆ check out stories by AuburnCloud. jasmine writes poems and short stories. give them a read! (link in the comments)

⋆ check out stories by Imhumairasana. sana writes poems. give them a read! (link in the comments)

⋆ check out stories by sejwrites_ as asked of me by myohmyyyyyyyyyy. (link in the comments)

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