With a gift for creating stylistic action sequences, director Guy Ritchie tends to make fairly entertaining but frequently forgettable movies.
There are exceptions, of course — his strong 1998 debut, “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” 2009’s largely loved “Sherlock Holmes” and others — but it’s hard to recall much about recent even efforts such as “The Gentlemen” (2019) and “Wrath of Man” (2021).
Ritchie clearly wants you to be impacted by — and to remember — his latest effort, which is also his first war film. You know it’s serious because we’re apparently supposed to call it not “The Covenant” but instead “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant.”
Fine.
Here’s what matters: “The Covenant,” as we’ll now refer to it in shorthand, successfully tells a dramatic bit of fiction about an experienced U.S. Army officer and an Afghan interpreter in the very dangerous Afghanistan of 2018. Consisting largely of two sections, with a short bridge in the middle, its first half is significantly stronger than its second. Starting with the heavy-handled middle section and continuing into the latter half of the film, Ritchie gives into some of his weaker instincts.
Nonetheless, “The Covenant” is one of his stronger efforts.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as U.S. Army Sgt. John Kinley, who in his last tour of duty is growing frustrated with his specialist unit’s lack of success in achieving its mission: finding Taliban munitions and explosive storage sites.
After his previous interpreter is killed, John is paired with Ahmed (Dar Salim), who tells the sergeant he is a former mechanic who needs the money from working with U.S. forces, as he’s done for five years.
Ahmed proves a little strong-willed for John’s liking, but it isn’t long before the former proves his immense worth more than once. Ahmed is smart and he knows the region and its people.
And after a raid of a suspected explosives-manufacturing site goes bad, John will have to depend greatly on Ahmed as the two find themselves trying to elude Taliban pursuers in the unforgiving landscape of rural of Afghanistan.
This is “The Covenant” at its best, Ritchie and director of photography Ed Wild (“Rocketman”) ensuring that we feel the stress and strain the two characters do — at least much as is possible from the comfort and safety of a theater seat.
That’s not to sell short the work of of the convincingly intense Gyllenhaal, who portrayed a Marine in 2005’s “Jarhead,” and the Iraqi-born Salim, a lesser-known actor who has appeared on “Game of Thrones.” As this first part of the film progresses, the pleasantly subtle Salim has to do much of the heavy lifting — both figuratively and literally, as you can’t help but wonder if Ahmed’s efforts will prove to be Sisyphean — and is up to the task.
The marketing materials do not hide the fact that Ahmed and John survive and that the latter makes it back home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and his wife, Caroline (Emily Beecham), and their little ones, (Kieran Fort and Savannah Fort). Ahmed, meanwhile, remains in Afghanistan with his wife, Basira (Fariba Sheikhan), and their new baby.
Having risen to the top of the Taliban’s most-wanted list after their escape, Ahmed and his family have had to go into hiding. This is hugely upsetting to John, who believes the U.S. government needs to bring them to this country immediately.
John is haunted by the idea that a man to whom he owes his life is being hung out to dry, experiencing nightmares and traumatic flashbacks, and endlessly frustrated by all the red tape he encounters in trying to secure U.S. visas for the family of three. This is where Ritchie lets loose stylistically, laying it all on pretty thick, as if he’s earned dessert after having eaten his vegetables.
And he and his collaborators craft a second act that is far less interesting, despite danger lying around every corner for both John and Ahmed.
As for Ritchie’s collaborators, his co-writers on “The Covenant,” Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, also worked with him on “Wrath of Man” this year’s came-and-went “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” and others. Although the trio deserves praise for the construction of the first half of the film and for solid dialogue throughout it, the highly predictable ending leaves a bit to be desired.
Ritchie was inspired to make this film, according to its production notes, after watching documentaries about the conflict in Afghanistan and the plight of local interpreters who worked with U.S. forces and are seen by traitors by some natives. It’s a worthwhile subject, to say the least.
Like just about every Guy Ritchie work, “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant” isn’t all it could have been. It deserves to be seen, though, and, at least for a while, remembered.
———
‘GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANT’
2.5 stars (out of 4)
Rated: R (for violence, language throughout and brief drug content)
Running time: 2:03
How to watch: In theaters Friday
———
