Le pacte du sang

Anyone who expected this movie to be an amazing, intelligent film will be severely disappointed. However, from the trailer, I made a guess as to the general quality of the film. I was right, and I enjoyed myself.

Hot guys who do magic. That's pretty much all you need to know about the movie. The dialogue is crap, most of the acting is so-so, characters are woefully underdeveloped, and the plot is flimsy at best. That said, it was a fun movie. There was exciting action, and lots of fan service for the girls in the audience (Don't worry boys, there are girls in dubious sleepwear, too) It's one of those movies where you sit and watch and say, "This is a really good idea, but even *I* could write a better movie than this." The concept is cool, the execution not-so-hot. But as a break from the grind of class? Definitely good.

The action was cool. The boys were pretty. And, really, what more does a girl need?

I must admit this wasn't as bad as I expected. I've seen several Renny Harlin movies, none of which I've liked (in fact, I hated them). So, going into this one, I had little hope (if any). The story isn't the most originial thing I've ever heard of, but it's not a carbon copy of anything else. The story development is pretty straight-forward and predictable. The graphics are what you'd expect, as well. My main complaint with this film is what I call gratuitous dialogue: when people talk too much or think outloud to fill the audience in on what they're thinking. There's a lot of "ha ha I'm so evil" talk from the villain, as well. But, hey, if you can't have fun at the movies, why bother going? All in all, worth seeing at least once.

This movie is essentially for teenagers. The cool boys in the school meet the cool girls. The boys have supernatural powers and it's all about being in control and appealing to the opposite sex. The plot itself is fairly shallow and offers no twists or turns.

Unlike the movie "Underworld", this movie moves a little too slow and doesn't have anything interesting to offer other than some occasional special effects and some scantily clad actors. The girls run around in their underwear and the boys walk around in swim trunks.

The special effects and the display of the supernatural powers are very well done, but after awhile they evoke yawns, and not excitement. You can only slam people around so much before it quits adding to the plot. The movie fails at upping the ante. No matter how intense the action should feel, it all just looks like more of the same.

Strangely, the adults in this movie offer forth the worst acting. The younger actors do quite well and it is the story and overall plot which leaves the most to be desired.

The movie isn't bad, it just isn't good either.

wow. so, this movie was very hard to understand. the darklings made no sense to me whatsoever, and the way the scenes shift in sequence, it's practically impossible to tell what's going on. the dialog is very cheesy, and the special effects weren't that good. there doesn't seem to even be a point to the movie until about 2/3rds of the way through, and there was very poor acting. the music was decent, and the costumes of choice were okay, a lot of black. the best thing about this movie was that the four guys were hot. superficial, i know, but hey. i'm seventeen. a lot of the scenery and settings were obviously fake, and the movie made too many attempts at "scare scenes". not to mention the fact that it was set up for a sequel. overall- not my pick for a good movie. it was hyped up way more than i thought it was worth.

When watching the new Renny Harlin flick "The Covenant", one has to ask themselves "Am I at a movie theatre, or did I just turn on the Saturday Night Sci-Fi Channel movie?" Ipswitch, Mass. was founded in the 1600's by five families who fled England because of their mystical pagan powers. The Putman's were thought to have been killed off in during the Salem witch trials. Now, in 2006, the four male descendents of the remaining families are developing their magical powers, with the leader, Caleb Danvers (Steven Strait), reaching the full maturation of his powers on his 18th birthday. The families formed this covenant to keep each other in check, as the powers drain the life force of those using it. The long lost heir of the Putman family comes back into town to take all the powers for himself.

I found three metaphors in the film: puberty (get the powers at 13 years old, with full maturation at 18), drugs (the powers are addicting and slowly kill you) and to a lesser extent homosexuality ("my adoptive father caught me using magic when I was 15, and we kept it quiet"). All three were obvious, yet an attempt was still made to obscure them.

The lore and mythology was presented in an un-convoluted way. It's easy to follow and straightforward. So there's nothing inherently wrong with it. It's just simplistic and derivative, with nothing to really get excited about. You could almost figure it out without having even seen the movie.

Harlin seems to have taken a cue from MTV in making this film, adopting the philosophy of "Laguna Beach" that everyone in your high school just got back from a Teen People photo shoot. He must have cast models, as there isn't a shred of acting talent in the entire young cast. At the end of the film I was wondering if I had seen a film comprised entirely of cut footage and rehearsal shots. I was left with the distinct impression that just off camera was a stagehand holding a stack of cue cards for the cast to read from.

And the camera work was straight out of the late 80's to early 90's music video library. Half of it looked like a schlock Ozzy Osbourne video, the other half resembled Madonna's "Like a Prayer." This kind of film-making is completely unappealing. I understand that the core audience is probably 13-18 year old girls, and they most likely find that sort of film-making wondrous and spellbinding. Unfortunately for Harlin, and myself, 13-18 year old girls aren't the only ones who see films. There's a whole world of intense film-making techniques out there that would have made this film more enjoyable and pleasing to the eye. I know. I've seen it. Many have developed and mastered these techniques. But Harlin, no matter how much of a seasoned veteran he is, is making mistakes and "artistic choices" that reek of rookie director.

Not to mention the end fight scene seemed taken punch for punch from the Saruman/Gandalf fight in "Lord of the Rings" or Harry/Voldemort fight in "Harry Potter". I could go on and on about how this reeks of un-originality: "The Craft" with dudes or "The Lost Boys" with witches.