Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant Review: Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim shine in Ritchie’s discomforting war film

Guy Ritchie‘s newest film The Covenant shines brightest as a character study featuring two men trying to avoid the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Covenant struggles with supporting characters and maintaining the same level of intensity when not focusing on Afghanistan.

Dialogue, which is usually a consistent high point in Ritchie films, ebbs and flows. When US Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) is interacting with his squad and the interpreter, Ahmed, the dialogue packs a punch. Kinley’s exchanges with his family and off-screen military personnel are stilted.

Kinley leads a squad hunting for IEDs. Specifically, they’re trying to find warehouses where these explosives are being made. In order to communicate with Afghanistan locals, an interpreter is assigned to his unit and many other units throughout the country. The United States makes a deal with these interpreters. In exchange for translating, the government provides Visas and money.

Ahmed (Dar Salim) is different from the other interpreters Kinley has worked with. He doesn’t follow Kinley’s explicit orders and also has a personal vendetta against the Taliban.

Salim is fantastic as Ahmed. He has to carry large portions by himself. When Kinley and Ahmed are forced to hide from the Taliban, he has to carry Kinley back to the base which is hundreds of kilometers away.

Gyllenhaal is terrific. His desperation when it’s his turn to save Ahmed and his family brings out the best Gyllenhaal performance since Nightcrawler. Unfortunately, the dialogue in these scenes doesn’t match the layered performance by Gyllenhaal.

Ritchie saves his frenetic style for the action sequences. Throughout the film, Ritchie maintains a palpable sense of tension. Whenever the film ventures away from Afghanistan, The Covenant is a bit of a slog, which is unfortunate. The commentary on the United State failure to uphold promises is interesting but works better when showing the personal stakes for Ahmed’s family.

Overall, The Covenant‘s script doesn’t quite match the heights of Ritchie’s last stylistic departure Wrath of Man. However, Ritchie’s direction and the performances by Gyllenhall and Salim make The Covenant a worthwhile war film. Ritchie’s next project is an adaptation of The Gentlemen as a streaming series for Netflix.

Introducing The Interpreter in The Covenant

Kinley and Ahmed’s relationship is one built on begrudging respect instead of an authentic brotherhood. Ahmed is a bit more outspoken than the other interpreters but has a confidence that intrigues Kinley.

One of the first investigations with Ahmed as the interpreter doesn’t strictly follow Kinley’s playbook. Kinley orders Ahmed to pay a little upfront for the information and then pay the other half after the information checks out. Ahmed supersedes Kinley’s order and throws another wad of cash at the man.

Kinley does acknowledge Ahmed’s work but reminds him to follow orders. Later, he finds out The Taliban killed a member of Ahmed’s family.

Salim portrays Ahmed with a quiet confidence that resonates on every screen. Ahmed is a fascinating rebel character. He voices his opinion to Kinley, but not all the time. He picks his battles which eventually leads to Kinley trusting Ahmed’s instincts.

Escaping The Taliban

Kinley spends a ton of screen time leading his squad with Ahmed as the interpreter. Unfortunately, Kinley’s squad is outmatched by The Taliban. Kinley and Ahmed are forced to flee into the wilds of Afghanistan.

The brilliance of this sequence is it comes right after Kinley’s squad finally finds IEDs. Ritchie as well as the other screenwriters Ivan Atkinson and Marv Davies throw obstacles at Kinley’s crew right when they’re on the brink of success. They simply aren’t finding these IEDs. Kinley finally finds a compound with IEDs and his success quickly turns into a nightmare.

Kinley and Ahmed are able to evade The Taliban for a while until Kinley suffers a major injury rendering him unconscious. Ahmed creates a makeshift cart and attempts to carry Kinley back to the base which is far away. The action sequences are intense, but Ritchie doesn’t overindulge in violence.

The relationship between Kinley and Ahmed is an interesting one. There’s a healthy respect between these two men, but beyond a simple adherence to duty, there’s nothing that really bonds them together.

Earlier in the film, Kinley learns of Ahmed’s personal tragedy at the hands of The Taliban from Sergeant Declan O’Brady (Alexander Ludwig). If Kinley had learned that information from Ahmed himself then they could have established a more personal connection between these two fathers on top of the strong sense of duty.

Ritchie, Atkinson and Davies use this tense situation to forge an unbreakable connection. Once Ahmed commits to saving Kinley, the sergeant will stop at nothing to return the favor.

Salim shines in carrying this portion of the film.

Promises Kept

Once Kinley returns to the mainland, The Covenant‘s pace wanes a bit.

The Covenant quickly brushes over Kinley’s PTSD and establishes Kinley’s guilt over Ahmed’s precarious situation in Afghanistan. Ahmed’s actions have taken on an almost mythological status in Afghanistan. The Taliban has made Ahmed a wanted man and placed a bounty on his head.

Ahmed is forced to go into hiding with his pregnant wife when he should be in the United States due to his service. Unfortunately, since The United States can’t locate Ahmed they haven’t issued the visas for Ahmed, his wife and his soon-to-be-born child.

Kinley has turned to alcohol and verbal rampages against staff members over his inability to help Ahmed. With help from O’Brady and a private contractor played by Antony Starr, Kinley returns to Afghanistan in search of Ahmed.

The biggest issue with this story is there’s just nothing below the surface in the relationship between Kinley and his wife. Emily Beechum does her best to provide something beyond the staple supportive military wife, but the script does her no favors.

Gyllenhaal does a great job selling Kinley’s desperation. However, the dialogue which was sharp early, suddenly starts to ring kind of empty. Once Kinley returns to Afghanistan, The Covenant is back on stable ground. The tension is ratcheted up and the dialogue packs a punch.

Starr makes the most of his screen time opposite Gyllenhaal and hints at another untold story in the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Covenant final thoughts

Guy Ritchie‘s The Covenant shines when focusing on the situation with Kinley and Ahmed. When The Covenant switches settings to the United States, Ritchie’s film struggles to keep up the pace.

Liked it? Take a second to support Chris Lee on Patreon!