Review: 'Guy Ritchie's The Covenant' a gritty, hard-fought war film

Best known for his tough talking blokes-with-guns British gangster films, Guy Ritchie switches things up with "Guy Ritchie's The Covenant," an oftentimes riveting war film which marks a new path for the 54-year-old filmmaker.

It's not that Ritchie hasn't zagged before; why, there was "Swept Away" with Madonna, and the "Sherlock Holmes" movies, and "Aladdin," and on second thought maybe it's best to not talk about the movies he didn't make with Jason Statham.

But "The Covenant" is wholly different. It's a sober war film about America's War in Afghanistan that acts as a tribute to the interpreters who put their life on the line to help American soldiers, in exchange for an exit out of the country via U.S. visa.

That's the case for Ahmed (Dar Salim), who is hired by a squadron headed up by Jake Gyllenhaal's Sergeant John Kinley. It's March 2018, deep into the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, and Kinley and his men are tasked with locating Taliban-made IEDs, a thankless, fruitless mission since when one site goes down, another just pops up.

The bigger picture issues of the war and the frustration of the U.S. soldiers on the ground colors the background, as Ritchie focuses on the relationship between Ahmed and John as they're stranded together deep inside enemy territory. When John is wounded, Ahmed makes an impossible journey across the desert terrain, carrying John to safety and saving his life in the process. It's not until John wakes up at home in America that he realizes all that Ahmed has done for him, and he goes about the arduous task of repaying the debt he owes his brother in arms.

Note the use of the world "impossible," since "The Covenant" is a fictional tale, not one based on any kind of true story, even though Ritchie very much bases his story in reality. That doesn't dull the impact of the movie, but it helps clear up any sort of misconceptions about the supersize heroics on display, as well as Ritchie's ability to order up a satisfying ending for his characters, one that may have been tougher to come by in real life.

But Ritchie — with his second film of the year, following last month's "Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre" — is a skilled action filmmaker, and he makes full use of the tools in his arsenal to create a gritty, hard-fought war film with purpose. Gyllenhaal and Salim dig in and find the souls in their characters, grounding the film and giving audiences characters to root for, who embody the film's themes of trust, honor and loyalty. Hmm. Maybe Ritchie doesn't need Statham after all.

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama

'Guy Ritchie's The Covenant'

GRADE: B

Rated R: for violence, language throughout and brief drug content

Running time: 125 minutes

In theaters