When you see the name “Guy Ritchie” attached to a trailer, you pretty much know what you’re getting. Some gruff, fast-talking, and most likely criminal characters will find themselves in impossible situations that can only be solved with weapons, wit, and a fair amount of off-color tastelessness. Oh, and there’s a good chance you’ll either love it or despise it — there’s no in-between. The gangster-loving director of “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch,” “Sherlock Holmes,” and, most recently, “The Gentlemen” and “Wrath of Man” has fully established his own recognisable niche and has mostly been content to stay right there (please ignore that little Disney remake of “Aladdin,” thank you so much).
So, when news broke that Ritchie would be collaborating with star Jake Gyllenhaal on an action-thriller about a soldier shortly after the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan in the early 2000s, many people assumed it would be another controversial shoot-’em-up in the same vein as many of the director’s previous work. But, hey, you know what they say about assuming, don’t you?
The first official trailer for “The Covenant” (previously known as “The Interpreter”) was released today, complete with footage selling a surprisingly melodramatic tone that feels like a far cry from Ritchie’s usual MO. Rest assured, there will be plenty of tense action sequences and, ahem, questionable politics, as all Ritchie fans have come to expect, but it’s always exciting to see an established filmmaker attempt to break free and do something different.
