Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant | 2023 | R | – 1.7.9

Why is “Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violence, language throughout and brief drug content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of sexual references, many scenes of gunfire and explosions between army and Taliban fighters with many people being struck and bloody wounds shown, several scenes of people being threatened by Taliban forces with bloody bodies shown, several arguments, and nearly 50 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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When during the Afghanistan war an interpreter (Dar Salim) employed by the US army saves an American soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal), he is forced with his family into hiding from the Taliban. The soldier struggles with bureaucracy to acquire visas for the man to come to America, and eventually embarks on a mission to repay his debt. Also with Sean Sagar, Jason Wong, Rhys Yates, Christian Ochoa Lavernia, Bobby Schofield, Emily Beecham, Jonny Lee Miller and Alexander Ludwig. Directed by Guy Ritchie. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Pashto or Dari and either translated or accompanied by English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:03]

Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant SEX/NUDITY 1

 – Two men tease each other when one asks the other for information and one says, “It’s not like you are a generous lover,” and “You always play hard to get”; the other replies, “All you gotta do is chase me.” A husband tells his wife, “I’m gonna go put on something sexy.”
► A man is shown shirtless lying in bed next to his wife (we see his bare chest and abdomen).

Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – Armed soldiers search an abandoned mine for evidence of weapons manufacturing; they find several men inside and outside the area and restrain them, they find many guns inside, they find a man soaked in blood after having been tortured (we hear sounds of torture from a video), we see an explosive vest, a few men inside are shot and a man calls for air support and he sets an explosive to detonate and destroy the area; many armed men come to the area, gunfire is exchanged and many men are struck (we see bloody wounds), a truck is blown up and it flips with two men inside and another truck speeds away with others chasing.
► A man searches around a house for Taliban fighters and he is shot in the arm (we see blood), falls to the ground shooting back, and he is shot in the leg and struck in the head with a gun butt; a man runs toward him threatening to kill him and is held back but he does hit him hard in the head and we see blood trickling down his forehead. Many scenes show two men being chased through rough terrain; in one scene they end up in a ravine where many Taliban fighters are nearby and they fight using knives and choking, two men on a hill are spotted and shot and gunfire rings out from all around. A man stops at a roadside stand as a truck with armed Taliban fighters arrives, one fighter recognizes the man and the man shoots him; another fighter attacks him with a knife and the man strangles him to death. Armed Taliban fighters stop a truck and force a man to get out, one man shoves him and the other searches the truck until a man hiding inside the truck shoots them both (blood spurts) and he and the driver dump the bodies into a river. Soldiers argue with a truck driver at a checkpoint for the man to open his truck; the man backs away from the truck and it explodes killing two men (we see the explosion but injuries are not seen). Men, a woman and a child in a truck speed toward a dam where they will be picked up and taken to safety and they are chased by several trucks with armed Taliban fighters; the trucks are shot at and a couple swerve and flip blocking the road, the first truck arks across the entrance to a tunnel and is blown up to block access to the tunnel; the people cross a bridge and exchange fire with those chasing them until they run out of ammunition and a large flying gunship arrives shooting all the remaining Taliban fighters in the area and blowing up vehicles.
► A man driving a truck swerves off the road when it gets a flat tire and he and another man run through rough terrain to avoid being caught by Taliban fighters chasing them. Men argue about which route to take to find a munitions site and quickly realize that another man has led them into a trap; one man holds a gun to another man’s throat accusing him of giving their location to the Taliban (the man has a bloody nose and face) and we are told that the Taliban have the injured man’s family. A man, a woman and a child are told that they are in danger as the Taliban approach their home and we hear gunshots and we are told that a neighbor was executed; the man kills one armed fighter when he opens the door and the three sneak out and into a truck where they hide as they are driven through checkpoints.
► Armed soldiers hold a man with a gun to his head in a crowded area and push him into a van; we later see him being questioned while being held at gunpoint. Armed soldiers force a man to the ground and see an injured man in a cart nearby. A man drives a truck along a dirt road and men with guns shoot into the air to make him stop; the men get into the truck and he drives as an injured man hides under rugs in the back. Armed soldiers enter a place searching for weapons and materials to make weapons.
► A man cleans another man’s wounds and builds a stretcher preparing to take him a long distance to safety; we see several scenes of the man struggling to drag the man on the stretcher over rough terrain, the injured man calling out in pain from his injuries and the two men struggling to stay warm in frigid temperatures. A man pushes a cart along dirt roads and up hills with an injured man inside, and we see villages in flames and bodies hanging in the background. A man has nightmares and flashbacks to when he was injured and transported a long distance.
► We hear that a man was made into a folk hero in Afghanistan, that there is a price on his head and that he and his family went underground. We hear that a man’s son was killed by the Taliban. A man being questioned threatens another man, calls him a traitor and threatens to kill the man’s family and feed his wife to the dogs. A man is reprimanded for not doing what he was told to do. A wife tells her husband about how she and their children suffered when they thought he was dead. A man says that the only reason he was not tortured for information is that he supplies the Taliban with drugs. We read that after the 20-year-long campaign, the Taliban regained complete control of the region in one month after US forces were pulled out and that hundreds of interpreters were murdered by them as traitors.
► A man yells at several people over the phone when he is put on hold and not helped when trying to arrange for visas for three people to get them out of Afghanistan; we later hear that a formal complaint was made against the man for his behavior. A man drinks glasses of liquor and appears intoxicated when he falls to the floor after shattering a large mirror in anger. People glare at soldiers as they drive through villages and conduct searches. A sergeant instructs his troops, “Don’t lick, squeeze or pop anything.” A man tells another man that his group of soldiers, “Get into trouble.” A man is introduced as being “tricky” and that he won’t be pushed around. We are told that interpreters in Afghanistan could apply for US visas to come to America. A man says, “We’re not all animals.” A woman says that another woman’s son joined the Taliban and won’t talk to her anymore. We hear that a man was given a Distinguished Service Award. A man worries about another man and his family hiding in a hole somewhere. A man says that he has a hook in him and feels the need to save a man and his family. Men make crude remarks about a man having hemorrhoids. A man enters an abandoned house and says, “It stinks in there.”

Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant LANGUAGE 9

 – About 46 F-words and its derivatives, 4 sexual references, 14 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 1 mild obscenity, name-calling (bastard, children, murderers, dark horse, head orifice, traitor, infidels, clumsy method), exclamations (please, calm down), 1 religious profanity (GD), 1 religious exclamation (e.g. God). | profanity glossary |

Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant SUBSTANCE USE

 – We hear that a man used to work in the heroin trade, a man is given opium to ease another man’s pain from injuries and we see them smoking in a couple of scenes, and we see a few men sleeping in a room with hookah pipes (they may contain a drug). Several soldiers drink beers with a meal, and a man drinks glasses of liquor and appears intoxicated when he falls to the floor after shattering a large mirror in anger.

Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – The Afghanistan war, the Taliban, bureaucracy, promises, IEDs, shame, private security contractors, covenant.

Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant MESSAGE

 – Honor your word.