Guy Ritchie"s The Covenant

The genre of war is about as old for films as Hollywood itself. We can go back to the silent era of films to see this genre all the way to today. Society seems to be fascinated with conflict and strife, two of the many adjectives involving war, so, it should be no surprise that this topic would have longevity throughout the decades. We've seen many Middle East war films, but I can't help but believe that "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant" is one of the best of this genre on record.

March, 2018. This story follows U.S. Army Master Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim). After an ambush, Ahmed goes to Herculean lengths to save Kinley's life going miles through some of Afghanistan's most grueling terrain. After Kinley arrives home and learns that Ahmed and his family were not given safe passage to America as promised, he must repay his debt by returning to the war zone to retrieve them before the Taliban hunts them down first. After the Taliban's knowledge of Kinley going home, they have put a price on both their heads, so Kinley and Ahmed's contacts in that country is crucial as is fighting the clock to finish this job. 

Others to round out the cast are Antony Starr as Bodie Parker, Jonny Lee Miller as Colonel Vokes, Alexander Ludwig as Sergeant Declan O'Brady, Sean Sager as Charlie "Jizzy" Crow, Bobby Schofield as Steve Kersher, Emily Beecham as Caroline Kinley, Jason Wong as Joshua "J.J." Jung, Rhys Yates as Tom "Tom Cat" Hancock, Christian Ochoa as Eduardo "Chow Chow" Lopez, Reza Diako as Haadee and Damon Zolfaghari as Ali.

This was directed with powerful intensity and amazing grit by seasoned veteran Guy Ritchie ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" '98, "Snatch" 2000, "Swept Away" '02, "Revolver" '05, "Suspect" (TV movie) '07, "RocknRolla" '08, "Sherlock Holmes" '09, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" '11, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." '15, "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" '17, "Aladdin" '19, "The Gentlemen" '19, "Wrath of Man" '21, "Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre" '23) plus shorts, videos and music videos. This film truly was an amazing representation of comraderie when it comes to those in the military, and Ritchie certainly showcased this aspect in spades, The grueling situations these two men , in particular, were having to endure was seemingly impossible and heart pounding and this was this filmmaker's brilliance behind the camera. If you respect this filmmaker's brand of directing, his "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" is in production with a 2024 release as well as his "Aladdin 2" which is in pre-production for a 2025 release. It was equally well written by Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, and considering both Atkinson and Davies also collaborated with Ritchie on the last four Ritchie films together, and those films were executed well, it's certainly no surprise that this script was spot on. Not that Ritchie's films were suspect before Atkinson and Davies came on board, but I believe these guys have an amazing chemistry which should not be tampered with. This was concise, cohesive, all which had a tight and thought out script. At times, the story became like a cat-and-mouse game between these two soldiers and the Taliban which gave it that thrilling aspect even more. Both Gyllenhaal and Salim worked amazingly well together. and showed what it means to be a fellow comrad and friend. 

If you're into war films, this is the quintessential war film that has it all: intensity, grit, fear, revelry, comraderie and determination all rolled up in an action-packed film that will surely please. Ritchie could possibly be nominated come Oscar time. Who knows?

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                            Rated: R                                             123mins.