There are so many subtitles in “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant” you’ll wonder if it's a foreign film.
It isn’t, but that doesn’t keep Ritchie from leading the audience through the story of two men determined to help each other get out of Afghanistan.
Filled with grueling shootouts and a journey that will remind you of “Lord of the Rings,” “The Covenant” moves – largely thanks to the film’s score. It foreshadows the tension and makes you wonder if there’s anyone in your friend group who would do what these two do.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim play the new defiant ones.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a soldier trying to make his way out of Afghanistan in "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant."
Jake Gyllenhaal, left, and Dar Salim make their way across Afghanistan in "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant."
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Gyllenhaal is John Kinley, a no-nonsense sergeant on yet another tour of Afghanistan. He encounters Salim’s Ahmed when his squad is looking for someone to serve as interpreter while they look for bomb manufacturers. Soon enough, the squad is reduced to two. Kinley is injured and, rather than bolt, Ahmed decides to bring him to safety. He hides him in a cart, says he’s a rug merchant and manages to kill Taliban soldiers as they threaten to blow his cover. The trek is amazing – and a real testament to Salim’s ability to carry the film while Gyllenhaal is little more than dead weight.
When (spoiler alert) Gyllenhaal is back in the United States, he can’t live without knowing what happened to his rescuer. So, he stages his own rescue mission and, yes, it’s just as harrowing.
Like two films in one, this “Covenant” doesn’t seem like other examples, even though Ritchie embraces plenty of clichés. It works because the actors commit to the missions.
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While Afghanistan seems like a country that’s filled with pickup trucks and guns, there’s a hint of the gamesmanship that fuels the terrorism. A hint of a different world emerges only when we see Ahmed’s wife and child and his desire to give them a better life.
Gyllenhaal tries harder than he should to appear all business but he’s up for the job. Salim works no matter what the circumstances. A number of recognizable actors fill in small roles and Gyllenhaal’s battle with the State Department reminds us of countless customer service calls that end after a two-hour wait.
More than anything, “The Covenant” is about honor and loyalty. It interprets both in different ways but it demonstrates how important a person’s word really is.
When Ritchie flips through seemingly real soldiers’ photographs, we wonder just how true this story is. It may be constructed out of whole cloth, but it wears well.
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The Journal's Top Stories for the week of April 16, 2023
