It has completely skipped cinemas here, but it is definitely worth checking out at home.
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant was released in cinemas in America barely over a month ago, on 21 April, with fans of both the director and the war movie genre anticipating its release on this side of the Atlantic.
However, the movie will be skipping cinemas in Ireland and the UK completely, and going straight to streaming here. That is unfortunate, as even though the movie has a modest budget of $55 million, it has only made $17.8 million worldwide to date, resulting in one of the bigger box office bombs of 2023 so far.
The movie takes place in 2018, at the height of the War in Afghanistan, and it focuses on John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal), a U.S. Army special operations sergeant and Afghanistan War veteran, and Ahmed (Dar Salim), his interpreter, fighting the Taliban.
Directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Operation Fortune, Sherlock Holmes), the movie received a critics score of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes upon release, with many calling it the director's best movie in about two decades:
The Playlist - "The Covenant is so self-assured in its noble filmmaking values and beliefs. It makes a knowing nod between two men - and the heroically punishing sacrifices they risked for one another— one of the most moving moments on screen this year."
Screen Rant - "Full of action sequences and an incredibly moving score to pair, this could be the kind of war drama that audiences have been missing. It’s heavy on the violence and anti-war messaging, and contains a beautiful story about survival, humanity, and doing the right thing even when there are countless obstacles in the way."
Chicago Sun-Times - "Kudos to the veteran filmmaker for delivering a skillfully made and gripping tale about the hell of modern war and the universal nature of sacrifice, commitment and heroism."
San Francisco Chronicle - "What Ritchie is able to convey is the terrifying nature of this kind of small-scale combat, with the enemy coming out from nowhere and from every direction. Even if you’ve never experienced anything like this, there’s something about what Ritchie does here that feels authentic."
Guy Ritchie's The Covenant is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video right now.
