Synopsis: The Covenant is a supernatural action film involving the fictional Sons of Ipswitch. To their peers, Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait), Pogue Perry (Taylor Kitsch), Reid Garwin (Toby Hemingway) and Tyler Simms (Chace Crawford) are merely best friends who treat each other as brothers. Hailing from old-rich families, the four attend Spencer Academy and are the standout swimmers in the varsity. What most do not know is that they are descendants of an ancient bloodline of warlocks who have limitless powers both unnatural and supernatural. Once they "Ascend" on their 18th birthday, they gain more potent magical abilities than what they already wield. However, use of these powers ages them rapidly, a terrible price they must pay if they overindulge in their extremely powerful and seductive magical abilities. When the last surviving descendant of the fifth family suddenly emerges and seeks vengeance, it is left to Caleb, the oldest and most powerful of the four to defend his brothers and ensure the survival and secrecy of their Covenant.
Review: Injecting my swimming review in this movie is pretty simple. As mentioned earlier, all four main characters as well as the antagonist are the elite swimmers of their school. While the crew uses actual swimmers as doubles, the swimming scenes, particularly the Caleb-Chase freestyle showdown is quite believable and realistic. If it were really Steven Strait and Sebastian Stan actually swimming in that scene then kudos to them. Their stroke mechanics and technique were convincing performances for elite swimmers they are supposedly portraying. However, the butterfly race of Taylor Kitsch is what irks me that most. When Taylor swims the fly, he takes his first stroke arms straight at the recovery phase. However, when the shot sis focused, Taylor has bent elbows when recovering. To the untrained eye, this difference is uncatchable. However, too bad for them, I was a butterflier so the differences stood out in my eyes.
The Verdict: I'll give this movie a C for giving swimming its due but failing to deliver a climax the audience deserves after a relatively good rising action. Minus the butterfly race, the time trial scene captured the intensity of an actual race complemented by believable swims of the two actors. As for the movie itself, well, it could have been better. The story suffers from numerous plot holes and was a bit anti-climatic with regard to its final warlock duel between Caleb and Chase. I expected to see all four brothers fight against their enemy in a fantastic magical battle of epic proportion. But, of course, it was not meant to be. However, the build up to the climax is truly worth seeing and more than compensates for its lackluster ending.
Overall, The Covenant is one of those bad movies you might and most probably will add to your guilty pleasures list. It is a fast-paced, no brainer supernatural film you can enjoy for its simplicity and eye-candy actors and actresses.
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