Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant

Guy Ritchie came to the world’s attention in two ways: as the partner and then-husband of Madonna and as the writer-director of bold, brash crime comedies in his native United Kingdom. Gradually, he’s shed both of those labels, divorcing Madonna in 2008 and expanding his repertoire incrementally. In the latter regard, Ritchie has had mixed results.

His two stylish turn-of-the-2010s Sherlock Holmes films, which he neither wrote nor produced, stand as crowning achievements, coming at the height of Robert Downey Jr.’s appeal and as an agreeable alternative to the era’s contemporary blockbusters. Swept Away, his 2002 collaboration with Madonna, is still considered his basement creatively and was so widely reviled that it’s surprising the marriage endured it. Beyond those, Ritchie enjoyed big paydays for Disney’s 2019 live-action Aladdin, which was destined to perform well under any direction, and, less deservingly, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, a case study for a summer tentpole gone terribly wrong. Most would agree that Ritchie’s best film in recent years was The Gentlemen, a pre-COVID caper very much in his wheelhouse.

The filmmaker takes a break from heists, spies, and Cockney lowlifes with his latest effort, whose full title is Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant. As you can probably guess, the amusing title is not an exercise in ego but a legal formality, with another studio owning claim to the title The Covenant, the same reason the 2012 movie Lee Daniels’ The Butler is named as it is.

It’s unclear whether or not Ritchie’s name resonates with the general public. Certainly, no one went to see Aladdin because of his involvement. But his track record, which began with the well-liked Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, is respectable enough to trust his instincts, at least when it comes to flashy, cheeky action.

Inspired by true stories, The Covenant spares us Ritchie’s signature street-smart wit in favor of a more straightforward and dramatic tale of modern warfare. A decade into the War in Afghanistan, seasoned U.S. Army sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) chooses Ahmed (Dar Salim) as his unit’s new interpreter. It’s a job that comes with deadly danger at every corner, but Ahmed, a former Taliban member who blames the group for the recent death of his son, is prepared for it. He surprises Kinley with his willingness to question orders, sniffing out a desert ambush before it can transpire.

Keeping his reasonable suspicions at bay, Kinley has his trust rewarded when their unit is attacked and Ahmed saves the sergeant from certain death. With Kinley largely incapacitated, Ahmed braves approaching Taliban forces and harsh, unforgiving landscapes to hide and transport his commanding officer and get him the medical attention he desperately needs.

Recuperated and reunited with his wife and kids back home, Kinley is consumed with returning the favor and taking whatever means necessary to save Ahmed and his wife from the threat closing in on them in hiding after the tales of Ahmed’s heroics turn him into a prime Taliban target.

The Covenant is intense and absorbing. Utilizing occasional onscreen text to make sense of military jargon (and, less necessarily, identify inessential side characters), Ritchie renders the film as accessible as he can, which has been a consideration for every movie focusing on modern war going back to Gyllenhaal’s 2005 Gulf War Marine drama Jarhead and even further. World War II was mined early and often for tales of heroism and sacrifice. The Vietnam War has long been presented, sometimes quite beautifully, in more ambiguous terms, reflecting the still-controversial nature of that far-reaching conflict. With the exception of American Sniper, movies about post-9/11 wars have largely been met with public resistance and apathy. Ritchie’s approach is most reminiscent of Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, another rare modern war box office performer whose unflinching, harrowing tale seems to serve as a blueprint here.

Without one true encounter at its foundation, The Covenant does not resonate as thoroughly as that 2013 movie. When the screenplay by Ritchie and his repeat collaborators Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies has to sell you on what is so obviously the film’s central thrust, it sometimes stumbles, with the unfashionable stoic machismo at its core plain to see and easy to deride. But Ritchie, the committed Gyllenhaal, and competent understanding of how to maximize suspense all keep you hooked, allowing you hardly a moment in which you might roll your eyes.

The Covenant is a film that will appeal to hardened young men and military veterans of all ages. It seems unlikely to reach or impact many outside of those demographics and its soft opening weekend in a distant third place, barely eclipsing the fifth weekend haul of the comparably-targeted John Wick: Chapter Four, is testament to that. But it’s a solid drama that Ritchie can be proud to have his name literally attached to.