“Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant” is an odd title but it serves to differentiate this R-rated, contemporary war actioner from previous horror and/or religious films bearing the same name. It’s also a thematic departure for the British writer/director best known for his glibly gritty, gangster shoot-‘em-ups.

Prologue text explains how the U.S. military recruited 50,000 translators/ interpreters to assist soldiers on the ground during the 20-year Afghan occupation; in return, the U.S. promised Special Immigrant Visas for them and their families.

When Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal), who heads a Special Ops squad assigned to locate and destroy Taliban munitions storehouses, needs a new interpreter, he chooses Ahmed (Dar Salim), a former mechanic fluent in four languages.

In the past, Ahmed dealt heroin with his brother but – after the Taliban killed his son – his loyalty shifted. Besides, his wife is pregnant and he needs the money.

Although originally skeptical, Kinley comes to trust intuitive Ahmed, who is determined to save him when Kinley is grievously wounded in a firefight. Single-handedly dodging Taliban trucks, resourceful Ahmed hauls injured Kinley across the mountains to the safety of Bagram Airfield.

Kudos to cinematographer Ed Wild and editor James Herbert for capturing this harrowing journey through treacherous terrain – with the landscape of Alicante, Spain substituting for Afghanistan. 

Kinley was then flown home, but when the U.S. abruptly withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, most of the loyal interpreters were left stranded, becoming prime targets for Taliban reprisals.

In his heart, PTSD-afflicted Kinley knew he had a moral obligation to return to the war zone, find resilient Ahmed and his family, and bring them to the United States. But the bureaucratic ‘red tape’ that hampered this rescue was almost insurmountable. 

Written by Guy Ritchie with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies with a propulsive score by Christopher Benstead, this action thriller points an accusatory finger at broken covenants made by the United States government.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant” is a strategically shameful 7, streaming on Prime Video.

What a disappointment! 

I am such a fan of filmmaker Wes Anderson’s work – “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Darjeeling Limited,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” – that I was stunned at the complex cosmic inanity of “Asteroid City.”

The framing device is promising: an announcer (Bryan Cranston) introduces a mid-1950s black-and-white TV show about the theatrical creation of a fictionalized docu-drama called “Asteroid City.

The story begins with playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton) at a typewriter, delineating a tiny, highly stylized town in the American Southwestern desert – best known for its meteorite crater – that’s set to welcome a Junior Stargazers convention, featuring an eccentric astronomer (Tilda Swinton) and hosted by Army General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright).

A newly widowed war photographer, Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) gets stranded with his geeky ‘brainiac’ teenage son (Jake Ryan) and identical triplets (Ella, Gracie and Willan Faris), carrying a Tupperware container with the ashes of his late wife (Margot Robbie), whose death Augie has yet to reveal to his children.

When teenage Dinah Campbell (Grace Edwards) arrives with her movie star mother, Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), it’s inevitable that Midge and Augie will hook up at the Motor Court Motel. 

Then Augie’s disapproving father-in-law – pistol-packing, golf-obsessed lawyer Stanley Zak (Tom Hanks) – appears in a Cadillac convertible to reclaim his late daughter’s ashes along with her four children. 

Problem is: a UFO suddenly hovers overhead as an alien (Jeff Goldblum) steals the fabled meteorite – which precipitates a government- imposed quarantine.

Commenting in the background, like a Greek chorus, are three young Stargazers (Ethan Josh Lee, Sophia Lillis, Aristou Meechan) with their parents (Steve Park, Hope Davis, Liev Schreiber).

Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes, director Schubert Green’s (Adrien Brody) romantic involvement with his leading lady leads to the promotion of an ambitious understudy. 

The over-crowded cast list – including Steve Carell, Hong Chau, Maya Hawke, Matt Dillon and Rupert Friend – indulges in a seemingly endless – and pointless – series of split-screen vignettes, including an intense Method Actors Workshop led by Saltzburgh Keitel (Willem Dafoe).

On the Granger Gauge, “Asteroid City” is an implausible 3, playing in theaters.