The Covenant
Review
by Clint Morris
Bubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble… Me thinks Renny Harlin’s career is on the bubble! After his much maligned Exorcist: The Beginning,
Finish director Renny Harlin (with each film he does, the less
proficient he becomes) returns to the world of unseen evil with a film
that’s as equally supernatural as it is, well, sloppy. Part MTV-video clip, part clone of The Craft
(1996), the teen travesty fixes on four young men (Caleb, played by
Steven Strait, being our obvious hero), all belonging to a paranormal
inheritance, who are charged with stopping the evil force they released
into the world years earlier. When his new girlfriend Sarah (Laura
Ramsey) is threatened by this evil force (in this case, a power-hungry
witch named Chase) Caleb prepares for a supernatural showdown. The Covenant
has a great production design, and some wonderfully lit scenes, but
let’s admit it – no art fan is going to be buying a ticket for this
little ditty. If Harlin had insisted that they kept the effects to a
minimum and not spend so much on renting the most grandiose of
locations, then there might have been a couple of pennies in the budget
to send the cast to a six-week acting school – they’re absolutely
terrible, more wooden than Tom & Huck’s raft – before shooting
started, and at the same time, worked on some of J.S Cardone’s
nauseatingly awful dialogue (“Come on Caleb. It's not like it's going
to kill us. Yet.”). Then again, it’s silly to think sense
was even being used at all here – because if it were, Sony would never
have optioned such a dog of a script. A real “Wee-Yotch” to sit through. 1.5 out
of 5
The Covenant
Australian release: 12th October, 2006
Cast: Steven Strait, Sebastian Stan, Laura Ramsey, Taylor Kitsch, Toby Hemingway
Director: Renny Harlin
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