A director’s daring break from routine is getting a surprising amount of attention on Netflix just lately, with “The Covenant” finding its way into the charts two years after its release. Coming from director Guy Ritchie, who found fame with films like “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch,” the filmmaker — who has since gotten back into the crime genre — took a break by going to war with Jake Gyllenhaal (star of the criminally underseen “Ambulance” and Apple TV hit “Presumed Innocent”) leading the way.
“The Covenant” follows John Kinley, a U.S. Army Green Beret Master Sergeant who forms an unexpected alliance with an interpreter, Ahmed Abdullah (Dar Salim), during a tour in Afghanistan. While out on a mission, their team is ambushed, leaving John incapacitated and Ahmed the only surviving member. Outgunned and desperate to hide his ally from the enemy, a grueling journey for Ahmed ensues, which eventually leads John to repay his debt and save a stranger who risked everything to get him home.
For Ritchie, the film was a wild turn for the director who at this point had built his career on London gangster films, the “Sherlock Holmes” franchise, and even the live-action remake of “Aladdin.” With “The Covenant,” he delivered enough to earn a lot of praise from critics, gaining 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. It sparked a fruitful collaboration between Ritchie and Gyllenhaal, and the two are now working together on another action-packed project that will also feature a former Man of Steel, Henry Cavill.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Guy Ritchie reunite
In the same year that “The Covenant” hit screens, Guy Ritchie and Jake Gyllenhaal were hard at work on a brand new action film that also got some extra muscle by way of Henry Cavill. “In the Grey” casts the two stars as extraction specialists tasked with mapping a route for a negotiator (Eiza Gonzalez) stuck in somewhat risky territory.
Sounding like a more action-packed tale that is actually taking threads from “The Covenant” with regards to an escape plan, the thrill count seems to be higher, which isn’t always a bad thing. All the cast are familiar with Ritchie by this point, with Gonzalez and Cavill appearing in the director’s last movie, “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” What’s strange about “In The Grey,” however, is that the film was initially scheduled for release in early January 2025 before it was delayed due to post-production issues (via Deadline). Now, the expectation is that the film will premiere at some point in 2026.
Given the impressive work that came from the collaboration between Gyllenhaal and Ritchie, with the added star power of Cavill and Gonzalez, it feels like “The Covenant” could have a compelling follow-up. Let’s hope we get a release date sooner rather than later.
