The Covenant

The Covenant *1/2

"The Covenant" is just complete and utter trash. And it's not even done in a fun way. It's dark, grim, not very good to look at, and the characters are just gimmicks. It's just no fun at all. It odes have a basic story that could have been good enough, or at least something that's fun to do for a few hours. And it could've been the kind of film that warrented a few sequels-maybe turn it into a trilogy. Well, I think that's what they were hoping, possibly. The end does resolve the story, but it does leave it open for a sequel. I guess if it makes it's target amount of money, which it didn't, they could probably get a second flick out, but if they don't, then it doesn't really matter. The story if over with anyway.

"The Covenant" is about a group of four friends-Caleb, Pogue, Tyler, and Reid- who all have incredible powers. They are the descendents of the the original families that founded the Ipswich Colony in Massachusetts a few centuries ago. They are about to all turn eightteen, one at the time, which means that they are getting ready to "ascend." This means that they will recieve greater supernatural powers than the ones that they started with when they turned thirteen. This is both a good and bad thing. The need for the power becomes similiar to a drug, and it could go to a person's head. The same thing happened to Cabel's father, who died years before, mainly because his became hot-headed over the thirst for more power. It's also important not to be exposed. Many people like them, including their families, were hunted down and killed during the Salem Witch Trials. The kids are protected by a 300 year old covenant by the families, as a way to keep them safe. Ironically, this year there are alot of transfer students, like Sarah, who Caleb begins to start a fling with, but also Chase, who behaves very strangely. Caleb begins to suspect that Chase also is in possession of the powers, and the fact that it may or may not have already ascended, which would mean that he is in possession of far greater powers than any of them could have dreamed of.

"The Covenant" is very poor quality. The special effects are a little fun to watch, but the whole film is just completely dark and in shadows that I didn't even get a chance to appriciate them. It has many dull moments too, and I found myself checking the time more than I was involved in the movie. The acting is far far below satisfying, and I found it completely useless to have an opening credit sequence. It was the first time I ever sat through a three minute credit sequence where I actually knew not a single one of the names in front of me. They were better off just starting right away. And it's a typical PG-13 rating, with even a shower scene--oooo. And like in all PG-13 rated films, the girl in the shower always already has a towel inside the shower, to prevent having to get out to walk and get one, and preventing the viewer from seeing anything R rated. This is just more mindless drivel, which is alright sometimes, but here it's just not interesting or entertaining. I also really didn't understand some of the terms here either. For some reason, in the middle, these demon like creatures continue to appear, once in Caleb's car and once at the side of his bed. They were called "Darklings" but I really couldn't find any reason for them to bed in the film at all. To warn the characters of the evil afloat, yeah, but their actual purpose in this supernatural world was left unanswered. But then again, so were alot of things. "The Covenant" expects you to really buy into this fake world, without really much explaination about anything. I at least would have liked to understand how these people came to be, maybe even a little history. The text before the credits just wasn't enough. And the actual friendship between these people wasn't very believable either. Arg, this list doesn't end. There is far too much wrong here, which I would have forgave if the film was a little bit entertaining. It doesn't even strike that chord. One of the year's worst by far.