Guy Ritchies The Covenant A honest Non Bias Review

This movie is something else. I have to preface that I’ve seen this movie at least 10 times already. I do this because you may think I’m going to review it with bias. That however is not true. Now let’s begin.

Originally I saw a trailer for this movie before it came out in theaters. I saw the trailer and said man I want to watch that movie. Then I forgot about it. However I did see it in theaters right as it was about to leave its theatrical run.

I got off work early and told my wife let’s watch a movie. We were just having a rough week and I thought about doing something different, so I said you know let’s go watch a movie. We did, and then I saw it was still in theaters so I said let’s go watch it. My wife, who is super picky about movies full of action, said sure I guess. Let’s just say her attitude changed at the end of the movie.

Quick Rating: 10 In my most honest unbiased opinion this movie is a 10. It had just about everything I could ask for in a movie without over-exerting its luck or trying to be something that it’s not. If you’ve been thinking of watching this movie I recommend it. If you’re still curious about what this movie is about, head on down the review.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead.

This movie takes place in 2021 based on real events when we withdrew from Afghanistan in a chaotic way. Knowing what this movie is about, we will leave all of the political and bias things at the door and continue into the movie review.

The movie is about Master Sgt. Kinley played by Jake Gyllenhaal. His duty is to find bomb factories in Afghanistan. He and his team are tasked with finding and destroying them. We start off with the loss of one of his men and an interpreter. The movie starts real quick. Next he gets a new soldier and a new interpreter, Ahmed, played by Dar Salim. Right away you see Ahmed is not easy to get along with — Jake calls him a wild horse in the movie.

You can see the somber, serious look on Jake’s face. He just lost his men but he has to keep going or more people will die. They get bad information from headquarters, so Kinley goes above his chain of command and is basically told to do what he needs to do (and that conversation never happened). He ends up kidnapping a known terrorist for information — I won’t tell you how because that scene is excellent.

Then they find the bombs and get attacked. Kinley gets hurt bad. Ahmed carries him 100 clicks through the mountains to the nearest base while being hunted the whole way. They can’t take the main roads. Ahmed gets him back safely… and then the Americans leave him behind even though he was promised visas for helping them.

Kinley goes home to his family in Palo Alto but he can’t sleep or eat right. He finds out Ahmed and his pregnant wife are now being hunted by the Taliban because they were embarrassed that one man slipped through hundreds of them. Kinley feels the weight of that debt hard. Even when he argues and yells to get Ahmed out, the Army says they don’t have the resources.

So Kinley goes back to Afghanistan himself, risking his life to save the man who carried him, fed him, and kept him alive. They built a Covenant — a bond, a pledge, a commitment. That’s why he went back.

Now for the performances. Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim absolutely killed it.

From the first scene where he loses his man, you feel the grief on Jake’s face. When he’s frustrated you feel the pressure with him. One of my favorite scenes is when he’s standing in front of the top brass, calm and collected, telling them they need to get Ahmed out. You can see a broken man who feels indebted to a stranger he barely knew. All his scenes were chef’s kiss.

Dar Salim plays a stoic man who’s risking everything translating for the Americans so he can get his wife and kid a visa. His best scene is when he’s carrying Kinley over the mountain. You can see every thought on his face without him saying a word — should I risk my life for this man I barely know? Should I keep going knowing I could be hunted? The dialogue is good, but the silent moments are what really pull you in.

The score by Christopher Benstead (Chris Benstead) is absolute fire. The intensity, the gravity, the sorrow — he cooked on this one. It’s so good that three years later I still listen to it at the gym.

Do I recommend this movie? Absolutely. It’s one of those movies in a niche that makes you think “man I wish there were more like this.” It shows what the brotherhood and the covenant in the military feel like. I showed it to a couple coworkers who served and a cousin who’s still in, and they all loved it. Some things are exaggerated, but those parts just make it better. It’s the kind of movie that makes you want a piece of that.

I give it a 10 because the actors were on point, the backdrops were amazing, and the score was phenomenal. It made me yearn for the thrill. If you haven’t watched it, sit down with some popcorn, a drink, and a friend or two who haven’t seen it yet, and enjoy this one.