Sovereign, starring Nick Offerman, which comes out on July 11th, is a mixture of thriller and a right-wing, paranoid version of Taxi Driver. The film offers a wealth of commentary on government and society, but it only manages to do so within 90 minutes, which is a shame. I like the movie for what it is, but there’s a bigger story when diving into a father’s descent into madness that I think an audience can’t truly appreciate in only 90 minutes. However, I make the comparison to Taxi Driver because that has always been the template for movies dealing with insane vigilantes who think they’re doing good work but, at the end of the day, are trapped in the prison of their insanity. This film takes that approach with what we can easily describe as a right-wing nut-job, and that’s what the main character seems like on the surface, but offers a lot more than just a guy trying to make what he deems wrong in a big city like New York. This is a southern character that in some ways, is still fighting the War of Succession as he tries to define what a sovereign citizen of the United States really should be. And to make matters worse, he’s a father teaching his son ideas that don’t work in a conventional world. “Sovereign” is marked by great performances and offers a great discussion on what it really means to be a free citizen of the United States.
The best part of the movie is Nick Offerman. You can easily characterize his character as an unhinged version of Ron Swanson whose moral compass is so out of whack and offers no comedy whatsoever. But if you’ve grown up in the south, especially rural areas, you know this character. You’ve met this character and probably had a conversation with them about what it means to be free and how the government, in their opinion enslaves it’s citizens. Nick Offerman is a phenomenal actor who as we all know, can do comedy, but can also do drama like he’s a Shakespearean actor. You hate his character, but you also sympathize with the character who just wants to be free even though what he does is essentially anarchy. He is a good father trying to give his son a good education and gives him life lessons on how the world really works. He might be a madman, but not someone you can easily write off, and you are compelled to listen to him despite the fact that you may disagree with his views. And this movie is very much a road movie as the characters travel to small towns educating people on what it means to be a sovereign citizen. Jacob Tremblay gets an outstanding performance as the son caught between two worlds. He loves his father and seeks his approval through learning what his father has to teach him, but also wants a normal life like just going to school and having friends, even finding a girlfriend. He yearns to escape the madness that his father brings upon their world. Don’t think I would ever watch this movie again, but it’s not a forgettable film either, it’s a film worthy of discussion. It’s a film that will make you think and ask questions. That is the mark of a good film.
But for me, the biggest flaw, despite the wonderful performances, is that there’s so much in this story that it’s hard to tell everything in just 90 minutes. They’re great characters, but it feels like there’s not a lot to do in the time constraints of this film that might be better explored in a limited series. When the two main characters essentially go on the run, there’s a manhunt that seems too short and not as emotional as it should be because we don’t have enough time to really get to know these characters in their motivations. I’ve often criticized stories that I think would be better as a limited series, whereas things might be too long and you can easily tell it in a 2-hour movie. This is a story that’s worth telling as a limited series especially as you’re dealing with a manhunt for these two characters who are on the run after having a shootout with cops. The manhunt should draw us in and intensify over time, especially when you can take a couple of episodes of a series to reach the great climax that this film has. The tragedy within the story doesn’t have time to really set in, where we can form an emotional connection, it happens too fast, and that’s where I am disappointed with this movie. 90 minutes only gives me glimpses into everything. We barely get to know Dennis Quaid’s police chief character and his son, played by Thomas Mann where we feel the bond between them. The story is good, the cinematography is great, but this shouldn’t be a movie. The filmmakers should have told this story in 6 to 8 episodes on a streaming platform so that each episode draws us in further and further into the madness of the main character and makes us feel the tragedy that happens in the end. I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to spoil it, but this film’s biggest problem is that 90 minutes isn’t long enough to tell what could have been a great story. However, the performances make this movie good enough, and the ending is intense, even if it’s short-lived. “Sovereign” is a movie worth watching at least once, if nothing else, for the fantastic performance of Nick Offerman.
