The Covenant

The actual title is "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant." So let's talk a little about Guy Ritchie for a second. When "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" came out and then Ritchie followed his stunning debut feature with, "Snatch," I thought, this guy (See what I did there) is the Tarantino of England. This kind of mobster/action film was something I loved, at least during this particular time in film (early 2000s). His films felt fresh and bold and fun. Then came along Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes films and my love of Guy Ritchie soured. He turned my intellectual cocaine shooting detective into a kind of MCU action star - really? Since then, I stopped being interested in anything the director went on to do; until now. And like a sniper shot out of nowhere comes, "The Covenant." Redemption. Based on a true story of an American solider, John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is rescued during the Afghanistan War by his language interrupter Ahmed (Dar Salim). The film then moves to John's subsequent rescue to get Ahmed out of Afghanistan. I hope Dar Salim gets a nomination for this, he's great. I'm not it's best picture material but it's a solid action picture and it's the best thing Guy Ritchie has done in decades. Go get rescued in a theatre near you or on streaming services soon.