Sovereign

The movie is a real-world thriller that’s also a riveting character study that’s also a portrait of the place where the reactionary politics of today curdles into obsession.

Sovereign is some of Offerman’s most complex and disturbing work. It’s a fine film, too.

A meeting of “Leave No Trace” and “Hell or High Water,” “Sovereign” is a thought provoking political work whose sympathetic eye is given focus by its potent cast.

Offerman’s Jerry Kane is a villain for the ages, a man with a point of view that more people share than we’d like to believe. He makes Sovereign must-see cinema for understanding not just a “type,” but a movement and a moment, and just where they’re taking us if we let them.

This is muscular stuff, with a firm grip on your attention.

Though Offerman buoys the film with terrifying aplomb, Sovereign is a missed opportunity to examine the cascading fallout from living in a country that fails its people and breeds violence.

Despite a strong performance from Nick Offerman, Sovereign is a film that’s inescapably slight and with little to say with its painfully relevant story of modern extremism.

Powerful film. Cried my eyes out at the end. The performances, writing and directing are all top notch. It's a slow burn but worth every minute. Offerman deserves an Oscar.

Offerman is stellar , the recent Quaid Renaissance also keeps being fascinating. The source material here... well, I read the review of the family member with interest. The broader problem I have with films like these is way older than this one film . Even before woke, Hollywood was obviously , painfully, left wing. These days it's not even funny anymore (which in the 90s it still was , a running gag ) The movie industry really needs to be more diverse , and I don't mean their colors and pronouns. Where are all the great films and critical studies about antifa , about extreme left wing organizations ? About the many many wrongs within Islam and its wave of extremist teachings now taking over many Western European cities. Where are the films about American cities that were run into the ground through corruption within the Democratic party. I don't see them. I don't even mind being critical of Maga, I don't care. But our media are painfully , horribly , myopic and dumb in terms of politics and a critical view of where western civilization is heading .

This film is based on an event that happened in 2010. Nick Offerman plays a man who claims to be a Sovereign Citizen, holding an anti-establishment worldview based on distrust of the government. He and his son (Jacob Tremblay) travel the country running his seminar about challenging the system. Offerman’s performance centers the story with determined force, while Tremblay’s performance is heartbreaking. Dennis Quaid, as the local sherif, turns in a deep characterization as well. Writer/director Christian Swegal could have benefitted from listening to his editor: The early lecture scenes take up too much of the film’s narrative and get repetitive. The inevitable tragedy has powerful aspects, but the final encounters are less effective that the situation merits. It remains an interesting glimpse into extremism with potent performances to drive the story. NOTE: Listen for Offerman’s real-life wife Megan Mullally as the radio host.

While fundamentally promising, the film fails to present its subject matter in a believable and dramatically compelling way. It consistently lacks a feel for visual composition and pacing. Furthermore, the film repeatedly overshadows the characters, leaving it unclear whose story is actually being told.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]