| Product: |
The Covenant (DVD) |
| Date: |
25.04.07 (158 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Looks great, superb special effect stunts
Disadvantages: Cast, lack of use of main characters
The Covenant is a horror/thriller very much along the lines of The Craft, except this time around the main characters are male instead of female. It is also another in the recent trend of so called horrors that doesn’t have enough blood, guts or scary moments to be really classed as a horror. It is a thriller rather than a horror and as a thriller it is not to bed, although they do manage to signpost the plot very obviously with the most blatant set up conversation near the very beginning!
The Covenant is a film that looks superb and has some very decent special effect ‘stunts’, in fact it was one of those ‘stunts’ in the trailer that persuaded me to watch the film.
The photography in the film is amongst the best I have seen for a long time, everything just looks incredible, but then in a movie which is mainly about the cast looking good themselves who can be surprised that the makers have put a lot of effort into making sure that everything about their movie is very, very stylish.
The story is all about the Sons of Ipswich, four 17 year old boys who are ancestors of four of the original families to arrive on American soil and set up the town. They are not normal boys though as their families have magic in their blood, magic that begins to surface when the children reach puberty but becomes much more powerful on the hour of their 18th birthday.
The downside is that not only does the use of the power become addictive but that it also drains the users life force, aging them every time they use it.
As the 18th birthday of one of them Caleb (Steven Strait - the wonderfully named Warren Peace in Sky High) approaches the boys look forward to being able to use their heritage for more than the minor spells they can cast now. When it appears that someone is already abusing their powers though it is up to the Sons to uncover which one of them has already turned bad!
The Covenant is an ok film. It is certainly not a world beating ‘wow! You have to see this film’ but at the same time it isn’t boring or complete rubbish. It certainly isn’t worth buying on DVD but it is very much worth sticking on your rental list if you like stuff like The Final Destination films or The Craft. There is enough of a story to keep you interested if not totally engrossed.
There are some truly spectacular stunts in The Covenant, in fact the could actually be described as original, something that cant be said about most of the film. One, the stand out one of the film, involves a sports car travelling at high speed crashing into a juggernaut and made me take a sharp intake of breath. It is one of those scenes that stick in your mind from a film. No matter what when this film is mentioned you will remember the scene, and that is saying something because generally I dislike CGI (Computer generated graphics) with a vengeance. When they are used like this though I give respect to the people who thought it up. Yes it is that good a ‘stunt’ in my eyes.
Sadly though the movie overall doesn’t live up to that, and other special effects. The major downside of the movie is the lack of use of three of the four sons. I don’t understand the logic of creating a back story that makes the four sons important but then pretty much cuts three of them out of the film, leaving them just as bit parts in the major story. They are nothing more than basic sketches of characters and this fact really did let the film down on the whole. The three sons were just not used enough for my liking.
Another really bad point to the film is the completely pointless ‘girl in a shower’ scene, I thought they had got rid of these years ago but here it pops up for no apparent reason at all!
The Covenant is directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Long Kiss Goodnight) who does a good job with the script he was given, which is about all you can ask of a director sometimes. Harlin can at times be very good when on form and I think it was probably his input that pulled Covenant from a below average to just about average rating.
Summary: Enjoyable magical hokum.
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