I recently went to the movie theatre (the only one here on St. Thomas) to see Man of the Year, the comedy about a comedian who runs for president (starring Robin Williams). However, since I could not understand the crappy recording of show times that played when I called the theatres show time phone line and I was unable to find a website that carried the theatres listings I was unaware that Man of the Year had not quite made it to the island yet (it opened nation wide this weekend). After arriving at the theatre to discover this bit of unpleasant news and after a quick run down of movie posters, I along with my friend Reg, decided to see The Covenant. With only a short tag line on the poster we had little to go by for plot ideas but the pickings where slim and it seemed like it might be an O.K movie.

In the end I think it was just that, an O.K movie. The story centers around 4 male mid teen private high school students who are dissidents of the 5 founding families of a small town in New England. The families are bound together by a covenant of silence. This covenant was formed during the witch hunting era during colonial times and was formed to help protect the 5 families that were in fact, witches. The 5th family that was in the covenant was thought to have perished on the burning stakes during the hunt. Little do the remaining 4 families realize that the 5th bloodline did not actually end with the witch hunts and would soon be returning.

I felt that while the overall flow of the plot was relatively smooth a bit more background about this covenant and the families would have been helpful. More background info would have helped develop the characters and explained their love hate relationship with their witch powers that was a strong undertone of the film. The overall feel of the movie developed quickly into a routine teeny bobber flick aimed squarely at Jr High girls. The combination of an abundance of overly attractive male characters, shower and shirtless scenes with only two attractive female characters with considerably less screen time made me wonder if the writer of the film was a aged female writer who never quite got to be part of the in crowd while still in school.

The main characters, played by relatively unknown but up and coming actors, Steven Strait, Taylor Kitsch, Chace Crawford and Toby Hemingway meshed well together in most scenes. Chace had relatively few scenes but definitely met the standard of the films acting ability, though that could probably have been said for almost any actor with this few of lines. Toby’s performance however had several instances that left me feeling as if his delivery was not quite believable; however this could have come from the less than amazing script. Steven Strait however delivered a solid and thoughtful performance (for a teeny bobber supernatural flick) that complimented the excellent, if not a bit over developed performance of Sebastian Stan. Sebastian played the villain and 5th missing blood line descendant. In the female and somewhat forgotten supporting roles Laura Ramsey delivers a performance that matched her movie love counter parts’ (Steven Strait) and made her already cute character a bit more likable while Jessica Lucas served up solid scenes, even if there were only a handful of them.

The special effects of the movie were indeed up to most viewers’ standards however they lacked originality, deciding instead to borrow from the proven enjoyment of the slow motion, gravity defying fight style that was made popular by The Matrix, Kill Bill and other such movies.

With the exception of the final fight scene that held its own in terms of action and CGI effects the movie ended on a somewhat anticlimactic note that screamed sequel.

While I did find the movie enjoyable I would have to limit my recommendation of the film to Jr. High girls and possibly their mothers. For the guys out there – hold off until video if your into the witch magic thing, if not steer clear all together; this one is definitely more WB supernatural than a serious film thriller.

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Rotten Tomates.com Rating: 2%