Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

The Covenant Blu-ray Movie Review

Guy Ritchie's the tagline.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III June 18, 2023

Continuing his recent streak of watchable, no-nonsense genre entries (The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man, Operation Fortune) if you completely ignore Aladdin, Guy Ritchie continues his welcome career renaissance with The Covenant, the first of presumably many films with his name directly attached to the title. This is a solid fusion of Middle Eastern war drama that dresses up its somewhat clichéd story with stylish window dressing and solid lead performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and Iraqi-born Danish actor Dar Salim, who makes his American film debut here.

The story isn't exactly its strong point but at least gives The Covenant enough of a foundation to stand on, following a unit fronted by United States Army Sergeant John Kinley (Gyllenhaal) after it falls victim to a Taliban roadside bomb attack that kills their interpreter. Scouting for a potential replacement back at base, the most recommended candidate is Ahmed Abdullah (Salim) who, despite his somewhat questionable reputation for behavioral issues, speaks a dozen languages. After a curt introduction (above), the new unit member gets right to work as part of an undercover capture mission led by Kinley's group, where even more questionable details about Abdullah's personal life arise; despite this information (and a few strongly differing opinions), he's clearly a uniquely skilled soldier with extremely good instincts. Once an ambush leaves their unit all but completely decimated after the destruction of a bomb-making facility, the two surviving teammates must rely on each other to carry out their mission and/or return home alive.

It's difficult to critique The Covenant without stepping deep into spoiler territory (I may have even entered it already), but let's just say this is a cleanly divided drama where a life-saving action in its first half is eventually reciprocated in the home stretch. At a somewhat oddly-paced 123 minutes, it asks for a little more patience than its seemingly simple story demands, with the last half in particular relying too much on a second-round setup that never quite captures the spark and allure of earlier moments. Die-hard Ritchie disciples will recognize his trademark injections of dark humor, violent visual flourishes, and occasionally cheeky on-screen text, albeit scaled back a bit more than usual (especially ironic, given the possessory title credit); that's good because they only work to varying degrees of success and, in the case of the latter, almost not at all. (An early scene identifying unit members by name feels especially unnecessary, as do a handful of on-screen acronym definitions.) Yet there's still good meat to chew on, largely due to the strengths of its lead characters and performances... as well as the undeniable culture-crossing human element of its narrative, which also lands cleanly. All told, The Covenant is worth a watch for fans of the genre and director.

For a similar (and perhaps slightly warmer) take on The Covenant, read Brian Orndorf's theatrical review.

Also like Wrath of Man, The Covenant arrives from MGM via Warner Bros. as a Blu-ray only release. (Diligent fans of the former will remember Shout Factory's 4K edition offered a full 18 months later, which understandably rubbed fans the wrong way.) This release paints a suspiciously similar picture: no UHD option right away and no bonus features either, but at least serves up a top-tier A/V presentation including full-strength Dolby Atmos audio. A strong movie-only disc, to be sure, yet it's still hard not to feel like poor Charlie Brown hoping to finally kick that football.

The Covenant Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Covenant impresses on Blu-ray with a clean and razor-sharp 1080p transfer that captures the tight details and stylized color palette of its source material pretty much perfectly. It's a logical fusion of largely bleached and muted colors popularized by 90s war films like Saving Private Ryan and Three Kings (whose 25th anniversary is coming up next year -- hint hint, Warners) and the HDR-ready hues typically used by modern films, creating an undeniably digital but wholly satisfying end result that plays exceptionally well at home. From crisp close-ups to busy wide-shots, each and every moment plays as well as the last, while a few intentionally distorted flashbacks -- mostly from the vantage point of Sergeant John Kinley -- dot the landscape, especially right around the film's mid-point line. Nicely lensed by cinematographer Ed Wild (who got a bit of combat experience shooting two episodes of Halo), The Covenant simply looks great on Blu-ray and, aside of course from the potential benefits of 2160p/HDR, shows no real improvement on this cleanly-encoded disc with no obvious signs of banding, macro blocking, or other compression artifacts.

The Covenant Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unlike Wrath of Man (whose initial Blu-ray was saddled with a stripped-down 5.1 mix), The Covenant keeps its original Dolby Atmos track right out of the gate and, as expected by the format and source material, it's a winner. Suspenseful combat scenes and intense drama -- which is at times both interpersonal and internal, in the case of those distorted post-war flashbacks -- are ripe with sonic opportunities that are routinely taken advantage of, as this full-bodied mix makes frequent use of side, rear, and height channels to pull viewers into its story on the front lines and back home. Though admittedly (and thankfully) not aggressive every step of the way, it's a precise effort that takes advantage of the format's object-based capabilities to deliver theater-perfect highlights on a smaller scale without compromising the dynamic range. It's a fine effort all around, and perhaps one of the year's best-sounding Blu-rays.

The Covenant Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with poster-themed cover artwork, a Digital Copy redemption slip, and a nice matching matte-finish slipcover. Sadly, no bonus features are included.

The Covenant Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Guy Ritchie's The Covenant is a slightly clichéd war drama that would've felt more timely and original 10-15 years ago. Yet it's still an entertaining and worthwhile effort thanks to its suspenseful combat scenes, culture-crossing narrative elements, and especially the solid lead performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim, who makes his domestic film debut here. It's certainly entertaining in-the-moment and may even improve on future viewings but, for now, at least maintains the director's welcome career renaissance. Warner Bros.' Blu-ray might continue the annoyingly delayed 4K strategy of Wrath of Man, with only that factor standing in the way of a full recommendation. Yet this disc's technical merits are clearly up to snuff, perhaps making the perceived format division more narrow than expected.