Action War Thriller Gives Jake Gyllenhaal His Best Role, Stream Now
Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant is one of those films that surprises you from beginning to end. It’s not like his fast-talking, slick, moving movies that keep you cracking up and wondering what will happen next. Instead, it offers Jake Gyllenhaal an opportunity to showcase his acting skills and his ability to lead a team of actors while his character leads a military team in action.
Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant
Guy Ritchie plus Jake Gyllenhall means of course I went to see Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant. It was a no-brainer. And while Ritchie doesn’t always deliver (who can?), he’s pretty reliable when it comes to screenplays and direction.
Plus, the film is centered around an issue that matters deeply regarding how the American military treats the people in the countries we are supposed to be helping. In this case, we look at the Afghani interpreters who assisted our soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.
Jake Gyllenhaal Is Master Sergeant John Kinley
The Covenant opens with a military unit performing a routine vehicle inspection at Lashkargah. The unit is led by U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal).
We watch as the unit jokes and laughs while also maintaining hyper-focus on each vehicle as the team looks for any sign of the Taliban.
Suddenly, a truck explodes as part of an ambush, and Kinley’s interpreter is killed in the process. The team is heartbroken as the man was considered truly part of their team.
Teaming Up
The Covenant moves forward as Kinley is given a lineup of men to choose from to replace his interpreter. The men’s backgrounds are given, and Kinley is intrigued by one in particular, Ahmed Abdullah (Dar Salim).
Abdullah is a smart-talking, irreverent mechanic who apparently used to work in the drug trade, where he had dealings with the Taliban, until the Taliban murdered his son.
Now, he’s agreed to play the role of interpreter for the U.S. Military in the pursuit of his own interests — revenge. He speaks multiple local languages and dialects, and will clearly be an asset to the team.
A Covenant Is Forming
Kinley isn’t sure he trusts Abdullah, but he picks him for the team. On their first mission together, which should be open and shut, Abdullah picks up on subtleties no one else would have been able to recognize. He saves the lives of his entire team, despite the threat to his own life.
He also identifies a corrupt Afghan National Army soldier in cahoots with the Taliban. This experience solidifies Kinley’s respect for Abdullah, and they head out into another mission together. The covenant between the two men is forming.
A Treacherous Situation
During this second mission, the team is ambushed and swarmed with soldiers, leaving only Kinley and Abdullah alive and on the run, miles for their base and any help from the U.S. Military.
They have also lost all their communication, so for all they know, the military thinks they’re dead along with the rest of the team. The covenant between Kinley and Abdullah solidifies as they run through treacherous terrain and are again and again found by the Taliban soldiers in pursuit.
They fight and win repeatedly until finally, Kinley is approached from behind and taken down by two men.
Streaming The Covenant
Kinley is about to be killed or captured for torture when Abdullah kills the two men, saving Kinley’s life yet again. At this point, Kinley is on the brink of death, and it is up to Abdullah to carry, drag, and cart him across the mountains for dozens of miles, out of sight of the Taliban, in order to find the U.S. Military and save his life. Yes, Guy Ritchie’s still got it.
The trek, and what happens afterward, makes The Covenant the gripping, nail-biting, heartwarming film it is. I give it 5 stars out of 5 and urge you to watch it the next chance you get.
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