Film Review: GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANT (2023): Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim Create Believable Characters in a Powerful Film

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant Review

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023) Film Review, a movie directed by Guy Ritchie, written by Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies and Guy Ritchie and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim, Emily Beecham, Jonny Lee Miller, Fariba Sheikhan, Jason Wong, Rhys Yates, Christian Ochoa Lavernia, Bobby Schofield, Alexander Ludwig, Reza Diako, James Nelson-Joyce, Gary Anthony Stennette, Saboor Sahak, Antony Starr, Abbas Fasaei and Hadi Khanjanpour.

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant shows us the recent realities of the war in Afghanistan. This film is set around 2018 and there is a great deal of tension displayed in the violent scenes that the movie features. However, amidst the very brutal action, the audience is also treated to a remarkable story that will make the viewer discover a moral compass within that will beg the question: “What would you do?”

Though it’s quite different in scope than the 1998 film, Return to Paradise, both movies ask their viewer to examine one’s conscience and make a choice: Is saving another life worth the enormous risk it entails? Is doing the right thing more important than the guarantee of one’s own survival? In Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, there is plenty of food for thought that will haunt the viewer. The added bonus of the new picture is the quality of the two central performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim as two different men who share the desire to be able to live a free life.

Gyllenhaal stars as the rebellious but earnest Sergeant John Kinley. He needs a new interpreter and finds one in a mechanic named Ahmed (Salim) who claims he needs money but is really trying to overcome the devastating loss of his son. Kinley and his crew deem Ahmed important to their survival. Ahmed is the type of person who has a lot of unique knowledge. Translating and interpreting become two different things in and of themselves. What is truly being communicated versus which is actually being said?

Ahmed is also a tremendously loyal person who goes as far as to risk everything to keep a very physically hurt John safe in the most dire of situations after an ambush. The Taliban end up seeking out Ahmed later on when John returns home safely to California. Although, Ahmed was promised a better life in return for his service, it turns out that is not actually happening and it soon becomes John’s duty to return the favor for Ahmed, the man who is ultimately responsible for John’s life still being in existence.

This being the movies, there are standard Hollywood cliches such as the fact that John and Ahmed seem to be completely different people at the start. They have their qualms but as the movie progresses, John, in particular, develops as a character becoming more three-dimensional in each and every scene thanks to director Guy Ritchie’s phenomenal character and plot development. Both Ahmed and John are family men who try their best to do what is necessary to maintain survival for their families. Then, John is confronted with the choice to do something that will not be easy and something that will require true bravery: Saving the life that saved him.

The action scenes are one-of-a-kind with an awe-inspiring series of sequences where Ahmed rescues John from impending doom. That’s one of the most authentic feeling parts of the picture which is set in the desert. Ritchie superbly builds dramatic tension and the movie never feels manipulative in either the display of violence or in the bond that is created through the interaction of John and Ahmed.

Gyllenhaal has never been better at demonstrating some of his best qualities as an actor through this turn which is his most intense performance to date. Salim matches the Oscar-nominated actor’s intense performance and is truly compelling to watch.

The supporting cast is uniformly solid. Jonny Lee Miller, as Colonel Vokes, particularly stands out in some key moments while Emily Beecham’s Caroline Kinley is more than just John’s wife. She is fully fleshed out as a realistic character. Fariba Sheikhan as Basira, Ahmed’s wife also proves to be an integral part of the story portrayed in the picture.

Guy Ritchie is not known for movies like this new picture. This new film has a lot of substance which is something that occasionally seemed to be lacking in the filmmaker’s previous action pictures. If you strip the movie of Ritchie’s name, it is not clearly evident this is his work. This movie feels like a wholly unique experience and when you reveal Ritchie’s name, it only makes the accomplishment more impressive.

Return to Paradise was about going back to take responsibility for doing something wrong and saving someone whose life hangs in the balance. In Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, we ask ourselves if we would be grateful that our life was saved and, then, take the risk to go back and fight for the person who made our continued existence possible. Of course, the new film is centered a lot on war but the morals of both movies are similar. Is doing what seems to be the right thing possible in the world even if success is not guaranteed by doing it? In the new picture, we ask ourselves this question: Is the bravery of one man more than can be expected from those who represent an entire country? It’s the thought-provoking nature of Guy Ritchie’s film that makes it so exciting and heartbreaking (at times) to watch. It’s a must-see.

Rating: 8.5/10

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