GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANT (just so you don’t confuse it with that movie with Leo and the raping bear) ostensibly deals with the issue of Afghan interpreters left behind to suffer retribution by the Taliban after America’s sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan. An über-earnest Jake Gyllenhaal plays US Army sergeant John Kinley, whose entire squad (save interpreter Ahmed, played nicely by Dar Salim) is killed while on a mission three kilometers from their base. Kinley is seriously injured, and Ahmed goes to superhuman lengths to return him to the base. When Kinley awakens back home, he discovers that Ahmed (and his family) are still in Afghanistan, and at the top of the again-ruling Taliban’s most-wanted list, so he takes matters into his own hands to rescue his rescuer. Again, the setup is strong, but the second and third acts are SO rife with typical (and hard-to-swallow) action film tropes (including my most-hated one, the protagonist who magically evades a hail of gunfire from dozens of automatic weapons) that it neuters the serious underlying theme of the film. The testosterone is so thick that you can eat it with a fork, to the extent that it’s a buddy film in which the buddies are so tough, they barely acknowledge their grudging affection beyond some snark and a slight nod of the head. A wasted opportunity (then again, Guy Ritchie, so what was I expecting?).
Originally posted on social media, Sept. 26, 2023
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