His mission is to find and “neutralize” as many local Taliban weapons facilities as possible, no matter what hurdles present themselves.

Ahmed is quick to correct Kinley on the pronunciation of his name, though this doesn’t deter Kinley’s stern condescension - a byproduct of his no-nonsense approach. John Kinley ( Jake Gyllenhaal), reluctantly agrees to a replacement interpreter, in the form of the disciplined but equally hard-headed Ahmed (Dar Salim). Months later, their headstrong leader, Sgt. Only this time, their quips are immediately offset by a lethal tension at a military checkpoint, where their inspection goes horribly awry, killing their local translator (as well as a member of their ranks, though in the film’s rare moment of opacity, it’s hard to tell exactly who). Set in 2018 - nearly two decades into America’s occupation of Afghanistan - “The Covenant” opens as most Ritchie movies do, with an eclectic group of oddly nicknamed fellas (Army grunts with callsigns like Jizzy, J.J., Jack-Jack, and Chow-Chow) mucking about with firearms. ‘Elemental’ Review: Pixar’s Latest Offers Mixed Immigrant Metaphors and a Genuine Romance It might even lead one to ask why hasn’t been making “serious” cinema this whole time. However, it remains firmly within Ritchie’s stylistic wheelhouse - his command of the swiftly moving camera, and its focus on violent masculine subjects, are intact - while proving to be intense and effective as a straightforward war drama. The premise is hardly “Ritchie-esque” upon first glance, with a straightforward intensity that conceals no surprise tonal oscillations. soldier’s debt to his Afghan interpreter. It’s an Afghanistan war film about duty and guilt, focused on a U.S. “The Covenant,” on the other hand, is arguably the director’s first foray into purely dramatic territory, the kind that has thus far occupied the margins of his work.

For 25 years, the filmmaker’s forte has been whiz-bang action-crime movies like “Snatch,” “RocknRolla,” and the recently released “Operation Fortune,” in which his (usually English) characters rattle off banter like actors in an improv warm-up game. The decision to re-title “The Interpreter” to “ Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant” is an odd one, at least on the surface.

Headstrong Like Us by Krista Ritchie