I’m not sure why director Guy Ritchie has his name in the title of his latest film, but because this is I think the best Ritchie movie I have seen, I will pass up the chance to snark at the only misstep in Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant. It about as exciting, gripping and moving as war films get — especially one set in the murky Afghanistan conflict in which the U.S. found itself immersed for more than two decades.
This smartly focuses on two men, the apparently iconic U.S. Army Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim). And no, this is not based on real people, at least not by name, but rather is a fictional account of what many involved in that war went through, and in the case of the interpreters, still are going through (the film’s end credits state that many interpreters left behind have been murdered by the Taliban or gone into hiding since the U.S. left). In order to get these very necessary people to work with the Americans, they were promised visas for them and their families to start a new life afterward in the United States, but it was a bureaucratic nightmare, and promises made were not always promises kept.
Kinley meets his new interpreter Ahmed after the previous one for his platoon was killed in action. It is a bit of a cat-and-mouse game between them right from the initial interview, but in reality they have much in common familywise, as we learn along the way. Ahmed’s son was murdered by the Taliban, and his wife is pregnant. He has reason to turn on the Taliban with the idea he will get to leave them and country behind for a new life. Kinley, meanwhile, FaceTimes with his wife Caroline (Emily Beecham) and two young kids hoping to get home after the latest tour of duty.
The first 45 minutes or so finds the pair on the hunt for IEDs, door-to-door in dangerous situations, with Ahmed key to getting valuable information and clearly helping as things get intense on the battlefield. Eventually the two are on the run together — and go straight into an ambush, where Kinley is nearly fatally wounded, barely conscious. Ahmed remarkably finds ways to keep him alive while on foot, dragging him on a stretcher across the country to safety.
The film gets highly emotional, particularly for Kinley, who now has returned home, recovering from near death and only knowing the way he is still alive is solely due to Ahmed. And he has gone into hiding in Afghanistan, the promise made for visas never fulfilled. For Kinley, it becomes a new war to do everything humanly possible, and impossible, to find Ahmed and make things right. When the bureaucracy fails him, Kinley takes it upon himself to return and, in disguise, locate Ahmed and get him to America.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=02PPMPArNEQ%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Gyllenhaal is at his best in this kind of role and is able to deliver on every front as the veteran Army sergeant with a sterling reputation, and the frustrated human being who will stop at nothing to help the man who saved him. Salim (Game of Thrones) is completely authentic and riveting as Ahmed, a man used to being betrayed but still willing to trust one more time. Among standouts in the supporting cast are Jonny Lee Miller as the colonel who knows he owes Kinley a big one but finds it hard to cut through the red tape to do it, and Antony Starr as Eddie Parker, who becomes a key fixer in the final act once Kinley returns to the war zone.
RELATED: Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre’ Review: Jason Statham Vs Hugh Grant In Guy Ritchie’s Stylish And Fun Spy Caper
Ritchie, if you ask me, is on a roll with two films in the past month, both delayed releases in the U.S. due to various circumstances but both (the other being the also poorly titled but entertaining caper adventure Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre) exhibiting proof of a new phase in his career — perhaps a more mature moment for the man who sometimes counted on too many cinematic tricks and not enough on actual content. Neither looks like a “Guy Ritchie Movie,” but both represent almost a new and very promising beginning for the filmmaker. Here’s hoping he continues in this direction.
Originally an STX film, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant will be released by MGM. Producers are Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, John Farenberg and Josh Berger.
Title: Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant
Distributor: MGM
Release date: April 21, 2023
Director: Guy Ritchie
Screenwriters: Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim, Antony Starr, Alexandra Ludwig, Bobby Schfield, Emily Beecham, Jonny Lee Miller
Rating: R
Running time: 2 hr, 3 min
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