Parents' Guide to Tom Clancy's Without Remorse

Phenomenal action sequences with enormous set pieces will take your breath away, but this book-based thriller suffers on the story front. Even viewers who tend to zone out during long action scenes are likely to stay completely absorbed by the all-encompassing cinematic maneuvers by director Stefano Sollima and director of photography Philippe Rousselot (whose previous work includes A River Runs Through It and Fantastic Beasts films). A scene in which a plane is hit by enemy fire and crashes into the ocean is gripping and IMAX-worthy.

Tom Clancy's source novel -- which was published in 1993 and set in 1970 -- is updated to modern day for the film. And that's not all that's changed; frankly, this adaptation by Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples is so different from the book that it's baffling that the novelist's name still precedes the title. What does remain is brutality at the hero's hands. For the most part, recent films have stepped away from heroes being quick to kill -- we now see villains make their own fatal missteps. But John Kelly is out for revenge, plain and simple. In tracking down the person who murdered his pregnant wife, he discovers a vast government conspiracy. Speaking of which, the movie's big reveal feels like an aged concept, too. The DUN-DUN-DUN moment is something that might have shaken the earth in the 1990s, but today's audiences are more likely to think, "Tell me something I don't know."