The Covenant – Movie Reviews by Ry!

The Covenant – In Bonds and Brotherhood … I Stand

Bonds are formed in many ways.  From each connection in our lives, these links provide a truth for existence.  Bonds have levels of emotional worth, adding girth to a journey (big or small).  A riveting sensation of sorts, these stories are adaptable, including in film.   In this review, I look at the latest Guy Ritchie film.  A mixture of real-life events and drama, this journey is an endurance of those connections.  With a strong lead in a familiar tale, The Covenant is a journey of bonds and brotherhood. 

In a tale of truth and sacrifice, Master Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) will put everything on the line to help Ahmed (Dar Salim) and save him at all costs.  When it comes to real event adaptation, there will always be a bit of dramatization.  Guy Ritchie (writer/director) strips down the ‘dramatization’ with a character-based tale with human worth.  In the beginning, we are introduced to Kinley and his group of soldiers as their tasked with finding terrorist cells in Afghanistan.  An incident happens, which leads to them recruiting Ahmed as their new interpreter.  From here, the film builds through characterization, which allows for realism to bound the bonds of brotherhood in war.  This is helpful because it provides a humanistic throughline, especially with the interactions between Ahmed and Kinley within the events of the war (in Afghanistan).  As new information (on the cells) comes to light, we head into a pivotal moment that leaves Ahmed and Kinley on the run.  This leads into a second act that continues down that path of characterization.  As their journey takes a more solemn turn, it begins to envelope meaningful stature of attrition, brotherhood, and human fragility (in war).  This delicate balance of real-event storytelling and emotional fervor creates a hardy grip within foreshadowing elements and predictable motifs.  With each passing moment, their survivability becomes the strength in their bond.  This throughline helps continue that poignant display within the war-like scenario, but also provides the catalyst for Kinley and his endearing focus to save his brother. 

Kinley (having made it home), is trying to find some avenue to save Ahmed from his current situation.  This leads to a ‘race against time’ motif, adding further tension to the journey.  With Kinley faced with certain consequential decisions, this leads to a third act of low-key dramatics within the aspect of human brevity.  With a bit of predictable motifs, we head into an action clashed climax and a hopeful epilogue.  The Covenant is a real-event journey that provides the heart of brotherhood.  If you are a fan of Guy Ritchie, character films or war-like stories, this is one for you.  It is available on Prime Video but would have been fun to see this on the big screen.

Full Score – 3.5 out of 5 (Matinee)