Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant

• (Or simply The Covenant)
• Co-Written, Produced and Directed by Guy Ritchie
• April 21, 2023

A U.S. Army Green Beret master sergeant struggles to rescue his former Afghan interpreter from the Taliban after the American withdrawal.

A character driven action movie about the unspoken bonds that form in combat that is also about honor and duty? I’m in! That there about sums up Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (or simply The Covenant). I didn’t think Ritchie could do it when I went in. While he has certainly done action, something allegedly with substance like this was supposed to have is not on his resume.

Surprise! Covenant is a well-directed movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Master Sgt. John Kinley who is wounded in Afghanistan that feels a drive that goes beyond a simple need to repay the debt to the man that saved his life in combat.

This certainly doesn’t have a big budget. I’m not talking that it’s cheaply done, but this is not a movie that Hollywood threw a large amount of money at to make it happen. But Ritchie showing some real skill gets a great deal out of what he has and creates a largely convincing environment. He focuses on crafting as believable a story as possible.

Through the rigors of compact combat Kinley and his interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim) overcome instinctual mistrust. Ahmed is there just to do a job and Kinley doesn’t have a strong like for Ahmed who comes in with a bit of an attitude and a reputation that makes things worse between the two. But through actions and deeds they come together to the point Kinley risks everything to get his friend to safety.

The action scenes are brutal. They aren’t there to get your heart pumping. They are to show the danger these people are in and what they must go through simply to survive. There are no miracle saves in Covenant. When they make it out, it’s very much by the skin of their teeth. This will not make you cheer but rather feel thankful they survived.

The basics of the plot are grounded in what has happened in the real world. Many interpreters and just those that aided foreign forces in Afghanistan were left behind in the withdrawal. And though I have no personal experience, I have read how convoluted and complicated the system of getting visas for these people that helped us out has been. There are instances in real-life where extreme measures were necessary to be taken to get individuals to safety.

The story balances the action with the dialogue and the character development to create a believable and engaging story about the deeper and more intangible things that bind people. These are about two brothers-though not through blood. They owe each other a commitment that is as strong as one through biology.

Ritchie does not go over-the-top with anything. No silliness or excessive stylizing of the action. He shows restraint every step of the way. This is quite possibly the least Guy Ritchie Guy Ritchie film I am aware he has done. Gone are just about all his signature elements. There are no exceedingly colorful characters. No cockney slang though that is expected in this instance. And his usual slow motion I do not recall being used.

Ahmed and Kinley are the leads with just about every other character being minor. But all get enough depth that they feel real as well as allies. Even if they don’t necessarily agree with each other the characters are not automatically enemies. The roadblocks that happen in Kinley’s quest are logical natural outgrowths of the world they live in. The Taliban is not there just to be shot at so the hero can kill a baddie be heroic. They are a genuine threat.

If anything this film is an indictment against the US and how it left many allies behind. At the end Covenant mentions over 300 Afghan interpreters were executed by the Taliban once they regained control of Afghanistan with thousands more believed to be in hiding. There are numerous scenes they allude to or outright state as much during the story.

I’m rather surprised this doesn’t get talked about more amongst action fans or even regular film fans. From an action standpoint it’s excellent. The scenes are staged very well and look to be largely practical effects with CGI used for some aircraft and little more. While the environment certainly looks more like Spain, they do enough to dress the landscape up to help you to suspend your disbelief. And this is very well acted and well directed.

For some reason this just didn’t connect but it should have. Maybe it’s because of the Guy Ritchie name attached. This is not the type of movie he’s known for to the best of my experience. It’s much more gritty and much more serious than say The Gentleman or even The Man from U.N.C.L.E.-both good movies. This demonstrates he has some skill as a director.

It’s not a short movie. Covenant is a little over two hours, but it doesn’t feel like two hours. There’s always something happening. The story is always moving forward. Dialogue isn’t there for fluff or for the actors to simply talk.

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant is a great war movie. It is the type of action film that Hollywood should do more of with good characters and deep themes. Definitely check it out!