The Covenant

The Covenant

After an ambush, Afghan interpreter Ahmed goes to Herculean lengths to save US Army Sergeant John Kinley's life. When Kinley 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.

  • Released: 2023-04-20
  • Runtime: 123 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Drama, War
  • Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Swen Temmel, Sina Parvaneh, Antony Starr, Abbas Fasaei, Gary Anthony Stennette, Hadi Khanjanpour, Altamasch Noor, Dar Salim, Emily Beecham, Sean Sagar, Rhys Yates, Marcel Zadé, Bobby Schofield, Alexander Ludwig, Reza Diako, Ash Goldeh, Fariba Sheikhan, Kawa Mawlayee, Mo Ahmadi
  • Director: Guy Ritchie
 Comments
  • speakvisual - 20 June 2024
    Promising but ultimately silly
    Guy Ritchie's latest effort begins with a promising set of characters and an interesting setup, only to devolve into a boilerplate mishmash of cliches, stinted dialogue, and goofy heroics akin to an 80's action B-movie, by its second half. In the first hour you are gripped by the well shot action sequences and a story that successfully builds tension, making you expect a much better continuation than what we eventually get here. For some reason the writers and director decided to throw all that away and shoot the rest of the movie as if it was a drama, complete with laughable shots of the main character screaming into a phone and breaking mirrors, and some hilarious 'acid trip' type shots. The plot loses all direction and focus while we the audience are left asking ourselves what's the point: there is no tension, we already know the ending, there are no stakes either. We're left watching Gyllenhaal who does his best impression of the stoic slash troubled sergeant, but fails to come off as anything other than a dull caricature. Unexplainably we are also subjected to shots of him and his family and wife which has to be one of the least convincing and stilted I've ever seen on film. It's truly bizarre how off the cliff this movie goes, it's like the writers decided to sabotage their own idea by jumping the shark and cranking the implausibility of what occurs to 11. The actor playing the translator does a good job with what he's given and is an interesting character and enjoyable to watch. The rest is extremely uneven ranging from quite good to abominable. 5/10 better luck next time.
  • OneAnjel - 8 May 2024
    5 for the production; 9 for bringing this to light
    There are a relatively few films devoted to spotlighting issues that are not well-known or detailing the most human issues in a much larger picture. We can include films like Vietnam, The Killing Fields, Gandhi, Schindler's List, and Sound of Freedom. I now place The Covenant in that same category. I think of myself as a pretty informed person but I had no idea this was happening. A little research confirms that hundreds of thousands of Afghan allies are still awaiting visas and living in hiding while those who did make it to the U. S. often live in fear of the current administration revoking what is called Humanitarian Parole.

    The online journal foriegnpolicy dot com says, in part: During the United States' poorly handled retreat from Afghanistan in 2021, military equipment worth about $7 billion was left behind and ended up with the Taliban or on the black market. But more shocking is the moral cost of leaving behind tens of thousands of Afghan allies who sacrificed so much.

    Why are we allowing millions of illegals into the US but not retrieving these individuals and their families, some of who went to the depths of hell for the promise of asylum, much as Ahmed did for John.

    The same article brings to light the fact that these allies would be useful here in the U. S. forming a talent pool of linguists, cultural experts, and proven patriots.

    Watching the many photos of troops with their ally at the end of the film really hits home the importance of the subject.

    There were times in the film I felt it dragged a bit but it keeps your attention and the fight scenes are very realistic. Some reviews have criticized a lack of attention to detail but for the average viewer that was not obvious. One person actually called it a bromance but he totally missed what was happening - yes, there was respect and compassion between John and Ahmed but Ahmed was relying on the promise of asylum and he also would have been a dead man if he didn't keep John alive to prove he was an ally. The bond between soldiers is one of the strongest ever known and Ahmed was definitely a soldier.

    This is the kind of thing I lose sleep over. I know this isn't based on a true story but rather on poetic justice, which all of them deserve.
  • gianmarcoronconi - 17 March 2024
    Very nice
    This is not a real review, it should be understood more as a collection of impressions on the film.

    Film about war that isn't really about war but more about the concept of honor and brotherhood towards one's army colleagues. Film that essentially wants to tell more about a relationship of ''friendship'' and sacrifice rather than a mere war between two armies and this in reality is the great advantage of the film which becomes very interesting precisely by departing from the classic and all the same films about war. In my opinion this film really deserves a lot because it entertains by always keeping the level of tension very high, without ever dampening it.