The Covenant (2023)

Direction: Guy Ritchie
Country: USA

British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, whose career path had a brilliant start with Lock, Stock and Two Smocking Barrels (1998) and then fell into poor action flick clichés that kept going until the recent Operation Fortune (2023), returns to good form with The Covenant, a searing war drama with considerable edge-of-your-seat moments. In truth, there’s nothing mind-blowing in this fictional Afghanistan War story, but even if it doesn't shake us like a blast, it is not an unpleasant watch. I was not disappointed with the action scenes, which still indicate Ritchie’s tendency for bellicose cinema, but both the tension created and story development are more favorable this time. He also co-wrote and produced the film.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim star as the steadfast Master Sargent John Kinley and the intriguing Afghan interpreter Ahmed, respectively. Ahmed saves Kinley’s life when his unit is ambushed by the Taliban, but then is forced to hide with his family as the enemies put a high price on his head. Outraged by the apathy of the US Army in dealing with this matter, Kinley decides to follow his conscience and rescue him himself. It’s a linear but straightforward plot about retribution. 

Often captured with handheld camera and featuring a score that emphasizes as much the heroic as the emotional side of things, The Covenant is not earth-shatteringly exciting, but manages to trace the political and cultural scenario of the time without overstuffing things.

Wrath of Man (2021)

Direction: Guy Ritchie
Country: USA / UK

Wrath of Man, Guy Ritchie’s disappointing remake of the French heist film Le Convoyeur (2004), stars the British actor Jason Statham as a charmless avenger, in what is his fourth collaboration with the director after Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998, Snatch in 2000, and Revolver in 2005.

The plot focuses on a mysterious man, Patrick “H” Hill (Statham), who starts to work for an L.A. armored truck company that transports millions in cash every week. The cash trucks are frequently targeted by the organized crime, but H not only demonstrates advanced combat skills when leading with the robbers but also drives them off with his presence. While promptly earning the respect of his colleagues and superiors, this man reveals other intentions than just doing his regular job.

It’s a bit of dark fun that we get before the film gets stuck in by-the-books action scenes with plenty of violence and machine gun pyrotechnics. Everything is set in autopilot mode and the menacing score by Christopher Benstead - who worked with Ritchie in The Gentlemen - is a constant presence, even in the scenes where it wasn't needed.

It’s all bloated spectacle in the end, a long and boring trail of deaths presented with a deceptive slickness, where Statham doesn’t even bother to bring a sense of grief to his miserable existence. Ritchie has enlisted the actor once again for his upcoming film, a spy thriller involving the MI6 and the CIA. I hope he can find different strategies to get better results.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

Directed by Guy Ritchie
Country: USA

The legendary King Arthur, his powerful sword, Excalibur, and his heroic deeds in medieval times were addressed a few times before in the movies with variable outcomes. Some of them opted for a more classical approach like the interesting “Camelot” by Joshua Logan or “Excalibur” by John Boorman. Some others are a total waste of time like Antoine Fuqua’s 2004 “King Arthur”. To me, the more successful ones were those that added some creativity and a hint of boldness to the tale such as the beautifully unorthodox “Lancelot of the Lake” by Bresson and “Percival” by Rohmer, which are directly related to the topic.

Guy Ritchie also intended to do something creative on “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword”, but roundly failed his test. He lamentably relied on too many frivolous fireworks and a lousy plot that among other feeble aspects, lacks fantasy, charm, and any sort of interest. 

The trio of screenwriters, Joby Harold, Lionel Wigram, and Ritchie, were the ones who set up this repulsive machination, which is devoid of any possible magic and mysticism by incorporating giant monsters and terrible slo-mo fighting sequences. The tale takes a similar path and activates the same strategic baits of those terrible apocalyptic catastrophe fantasies embraced by Roland Emmerich.

The story typically follows Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) on his efforts to retrieve the legitimate throne that was taken from him by his evil uncle and king of Mordred, Vortigern (Jude Law). To achieve his mission, he teams up with a small legion of rebels composed of old and new friends, and benefits from the help of Maggie (Annabelle Wallis), the villain’s maid who resolves to help the Resistance.

Over the course of two infinitely tedious hours, we can observe that Ritchie dropped the medieval atmosphere in favor of a sloppy urbanity whose unpolished settings were recklessly framed by the cinematographer John Mathieson (“Gladiator”, “Logan”). Moreover, instead of a king or, at least, a knight, Hunnam looks like a rock singer while the combination of imagery and music could only be useful for a promotional video clip of some heavy metal band. 

It’s hard to believe how the director of the praised “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” could have descended so low.

There is no heart and even less soul in this mish-mashed lackluster film, already one of my first choices for the worst film of the year. 
Do yourself a favor and stay away from this aberration!