Dear Mr. Harlin,
I am writing this letter to you in hopes you will take it to heart when considering your next project. I just saw your most recent film, The Covenant, and implore you to stick with what you do best. You are a talented director, with a good sense for action and the ability for taking established characters in new directions. For example, you were able to show audiences a side of Andrew "Dice" Clay in a new light as a cocky, but caring individual at a time when audiences were starting to wonder if he was only a one trick pony in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane. Likewise, your exuberance for taking on the challenge of reinventing successful franchise series as exhibited in Nightmare 4, and Die Hard 2 are fine examples of your ability to take what is familiar and retain the momentum created by others. You are a tried and true sequel director. It is my sincere hope that you will keep this in mind with your next film. Please stay away from overly complex offerings such as comic book films, pirate movies and spy thrillers. Stick to sequels, your first best calling.
Sincerely,
Anthony Bellon
The Covenant is the most recent attempt by Hollywood to recreate the successes of the late 70's and 80's teen films. It is best described as a want-a-be version of the Joel Schumacher classic The Lost Boys. The problem with this film is that it has none of the heart or character development of its inspiration, and spends more time focusing on being hip and sexy rather than trying to be a true thriller. I will be including spoilers in my review, and if you truly intend to see this in the theater, please read with care.
The back story of The Covenant is about the bloodline offspring of five powerful witch families who formed a coven that escaped persecution during the witch trials of France and England, relocated to the new world, and escaped the witch trials of Salem. The families settled in the town of Ipswich during the 1600s and have managed to keep their little secret away from the eyes of the general public for 300 years.
At puberty, each first born male descendant of these families start to experience powers that allow them to do just about anything they can imagine. On their 18th birthday, the young men go through a metabolic change called "Ascension" that amplifies the powers thousands of times over. The catch is, after age 18, the more they use their powers, the older they get. The powers are their life force, and wear out their bodies. Another catch is that the powers are seductive, and addictive. There were initially five families with these traits, but one was evil and banished from original coven.
The plot of this film is set in modern day Ipswich, a colony town in a wealthy part of Massachusetts. Most of the action takes place in and around the local private school called the Spenser Academy. We are quickly introduced to the main characters- in The Lost Boys style- at a beach party that ends in a high speed chase and the mysterious death of a Spenser Academy student.
The main characters are a group of four friends known as the Sons of Ipswich, their girl friends, and a couple of new transfer students. The leader of the group, Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait of Sky High fame) is the oldest, and will soon hit the time of ascension. His friends, Pogue Parry (Taylor Kitsch of Snakes on a Plane), Reid Garwin (Toby Hemingway), and Chace Crawford (Tyler Sims) have grown up together and formed The Covenant (I gathered from some of the dialog the covenant is a club like organization with rules structured to keep the group members from abusing their powers).
Caleb's father is thought dead at the beginning of the film, having given in to the seductive nature of his powers and died an unnatural death. Caleb is raised by his wealthy mother who is drinking herself to death at the angst of loosing her husband to the powers.
Caleb meets and falls in love with new comer Sarah Wenham (Laura Ramsey of Lords of Dogtown and She's the Man) who has transferred to Spenser from Boston with hopes of attending Harvard (incidentally, we never figure out how she is able to afford the school). The group also embraces transfer student Chase Collins (Sebastian Stan of Red Doors), an orphaned rich kid who's parents made a large donation to the school to get him in.
Midway through the plot we learn that Caleb's father is not dead, but looks about 150 years old even though he is only 44. Then due to a sires of unexplained phantoms and creepy spiders, the boys discover that someone, using powers similar to their own, had killed the local boy. With each new phantom, and with a nasty spider curse falling on Pogue's girlfriend, Kate Tunney (Jessica Lucas of She's the Man), the group turns their attention to find out more about their new comrade Chase Collins.
After an all too convenient reading of Collins files in the school's student records, the group discovers Collins is the bastard son of the banished fifth family. The audience is then subjected to a lack luster series of scenes involving scantily clad girls, magic laden fist fights, shallow dialog and damsel in distress action sequences, ending in a brawl between Caleb and Chase. Caleb is the obvious victor due to an increase in powers given him by his dying father.
The largest problem with this film is that the lack of strong characters and story usually associated with comic book films, leaving the audience with nothing to grab a hold of. Comic book films work because they are derived form strong stories and characters who's backgrounds have been developed for years.
Another problem is that the handling of the back story is poor at best, and is treated in the narrative more like the back story of a sequel. A good recent example of merging back story and modern conflict is Underworld. Had the producers handled The Covenant like Underworld I might have enjoyed it.
The Covenant also needed to get the audience to give a damn about the characters. We spend too much time exploring the visceral aspects of the plot, the fights and hot bodies, and very little on character. Spider-man works because you identify with his human nature, you see him as a man with issues and powers. He struggles and chooses and overcomes both his inner turmoil, and the challenges presented by foes. By contrast, Caleb spends no time with inner struggle, and has no new life lessons to learn. He consistently plods along protecting his friends and loved ones from bad guys and their addictions. He is the same from beginning to end. Which also brings up another interesting point, because the rest of the characters, save Sarah, are confusingly inconsistent, we never get a sense of who they are as individuals. They are simply shallow plot devices used to advance the narrative and have no real personalities or responsibilities beyond becoming foils for the antagonist.
One last point, the god like abilities of these characters never gives the audience a sense of danger. You sit there thinking, so what if they get hurt, they can just wish themselves better. I like a little more thrill in my thrillers.
In conclusion, if you are interested in seeing a movie full of lousy plot devices, campy wire effects, silly dialog, witless hip-a-tude, and scantily dressed teenage girls and guys, go see this film. If you, like me, are tired of mindless Hollywood schlock, and crave a well crafted, plot driven action thriller, rent The Lost Boys, Cube, or Underworld.
P.S. Sorry Renny, I wanted to like this film, hope you will make better choices in the future. If anything, try making some character pieces before getting back into action thrillers.
"The Covenant" opens September 8, 2006 and is rated PG13. Action, Horror, Thriller. Directed by Renny Harlin. Written by J.S. Cardone. Starring Chace Crawford, Jessica Lucas, Laura Ramsey, Sebastian Stan, Stephen McHattie, Steven Strait, Taylor Kitsch, Toby Hemingway.
