The Covenant

2006/10/03

Rating: n/a
4 stars out of 5-

Renny Harlin, director of "Deep Blue Sea" and "Exorcist: The Beginning", has released his first horror-action film, "The Covenant", which is already proving to be a great success, hauling in $9 million at the box office in its first week at the U.S. theaters. Not only did it beat "Hollywoodland" and "Invincible", it also grabbed the top slot in North America.

The movie's cast members are all beautiful and handsome sorts, including Steven Strait, Laura Ramsey, Chace Crawford and Taylor Kitsch, while the supernatural power-fight scenes may remind some viewers of the good-versus-evil battles in Harry Potter installments. Heavy metal rock also does its part to glue audiences to various sections, such as the exciting car race scene.

The plot is based on the popular comic book that goes by the same name and starts in Massachusetts in 1692. Five families possess supernatural powers and form a union amongst themselves, vowing to keep these powers a secret. Although they can do anything at will, they are supposed to stay low-key. However, one of the families betrays this trust out of greed and is expelled from the union, disappearing from sight.

The plot then fast-forwards 400 years later, when a campus murder is tied to evil powers posessed by a descendant of the banished family who has returned to have his revenge. Facing this severe challenge, a new generation of the union vows to contend with this threat from the dark side and rebuild the union.

The movie captures the essence of its printed version quite well. The interaction between the characters portrays humanity, supernatural power, love, friendship and fate, allowing the audience to experience the ups and downs of life, love across generations, and expressions of good and evil while battles take place. It is an entertaining film with plenty of action, special effects and great costumes. Furthermore, the cast also does a good job communicating the emotions of the characters.

Recent films reveal a trend toward plots that combine supernatural power with humanity, such as "The Lord of The Rings", and the Harry Potter and Narnia series. Whether "The Covenant" is seen as a continuation of this trend or becomes a whole new industry direction in itself will be interesting to watch.

--- By Cheng Ming Jen Translated by Sho Huang