THE COVENANT

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Master Sergeant John Kinley. He's a hard-nosed Sergeant, who while trying to keep his men alive in Afghanistan, can at times come off as a prick as well. In need of a new interpreter after his previous one is killed, John enlists Ahmed (Dar Salim) a mechanic and translator, who hates the Taliban because they killed his son. Ahmed is as strong willed as John and as such, they butt heads from time-to-time (however, Ahmed's instincts are always right, even when smoking out another interpreter's instructions to take a certain road that's prepped for an ambush of the team). However, when one of their routine missions 3 hours away from base goes awry, John is momentarily taken hostage by the Taliban: that is until Ahmed intervenes and kills all of the hostiles. He then drags John back to the base, again, a 3 hour drive by car. At this point, the film should have been renamed DON'T F*CK WITH THE INTERPRETER as Ahmed is nothing short of a bad ass! There's an intense and gripping chase scene that precludes this when John and Ahmed are attempting to flee the area after John's squad has been killed. This is one of Guy Ritchie's best films and his cinematography is a bit more formal due to the subject matter but he still experiments with a few shots that are nicely executed. Gyllenhaal is masterful as the Master Sergeant who, after being rescued and sent back home, must return to Afghanistan in order to rescue Ahmed from the Taliban, who's now on their most wanted list for saving John's life. 7.5/10