Holding the Covenant
This is somewhat old news already - "The Covenant" trailer has surfaced ever since the Comic-Con ended several weeks ago. But for everything the teaser has shown, be it considerable or incoherent, there's been very little discussion anywhere about the film thus far.
"The Covenant" is directed by Renny Harlin. That's Renny Harlin of "Deep Blue Sea" fame (if you can call that fame) and Renny Harlin of "Exorcist: The Beginning" infamy.
"The Covenant" earned a place in Comic-Con because its based upon a comic - in a round about way, that is. The truth of the matter is Top Cow launched a graphic novel tie-in during the pre-production stages of the movie to hook an audience, but for the most part, "The Covenant" seems to be a product of the silver screen.
For those who haven't yet viewed the trailer, five families find "power" (magic) during the Salem Witch Trials. One family gets greedy and then gets banished (sounds like Slytherin if you ask me). Skip ahead to modern times and four descendant teenagers have powers.
So what? Its just "Craft" for guys, as one IMDB user pointed out.
But here's thing: from the trailer, it seems these guys have extreme powers. Aside from the occassional skirt-blowing, the Covenant boys indulge in cliff diving, teleporting and even reconstructing their cars in mid-air crashes.
These guys border on omnipotence.
Which brings up one overlooked by crucial tenant of magical powers: its got a price.
There's one line particularly drenced in teenager wasteland: "C'mon, Caleb. It won't kill us - yet."
Inevitably, the aformentioned "fifth family descendant" returns to engage in some Highlander-esque rhetoric. The rest of the trailer is raves, hot girls, explosions, creepy stuff, and in the fine tradition of Renny Harlin, more explosions.
My beef with the trailer? For the most part, it focuses on just one of the Covenant members. There's four guys in this Covenant, but the movie seems to all center around the dullest one.
Regardless of the focus, the movie trailer has some fine potential, but whether Harlin will be able to tap into that potential more so than his past action peeves remains a magical mystery.
You can check out the trailer at http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/thecovenant
If you want more, check out Yahoo! Movies for a couple additional tidbits from the Comic-Con.