It’s easy to look at headlines of tragedies perpetrated by mankind and wonder, how do these people get pulled into extremist ideology? While I wish there were an easy answer I could find, (and then go on to win a Nobel Peace Prize by telling people to just…stop it) I know the real answers are never easy. It could be someone who is mentally unstable and never receiving the proper treatment, someone who got bad news handed to them one too many times, someone who suffered a lifetime of abuse and didn’t break the cycle. All too often, it’s a combination of those reasons plus more. When a film based on one of those headlines is released, I appreciate it when it shows a delicate subtlety to the situation, while still giving the audience an insight into a situation gone bad.
In Sovereign, debut director Christian Swegel crafts a taut, intense thriller that simmers with just enough pressure to keep your jaw clenched for most of its run-time, but never fully explodes until the final few scenes. Nick Offerman plays Jerry Kane, a figure loosely based on a real-life anti-government extremist, with a quiet menace that grows more skin-crawling with each scene. There’s nothing cartoonish or MCU supervillain-esque here, Offerman’s Kane is frightening precisely because he feels so familiar. He’s the kind of man who speaks softly while carrying an ideology loaded like a shotgun. By the end, your dislike for him is almost visceral, a testament to Offerman’s unexpected ability to play an incredibly different sort of anti-government figure than we’ve seen him portray in Parks And Rec.
Conversely, Jacob Tremblay, as Kane’s son Joseph, is the film’s emotional center. His wide-eyed unease, quiet obedience, and aching internal conflict make him the most sympathetic figure in the story. He’s a child forced to navigate a world shaped entirely by his father’s paranoia and delusions, and Tremblay plays it with heartbreaking subtlety.
As I’ve mentioned, the film maintains a tightly wound tone throughout, like a kettle about to whistle. It’s not action-packed, but the tension is constant, whether it’s an uneasy roadside encounter or an ominous silence as Joseph navigates the problems his father creates for him. There’s a persistent dread to the way it all unfolds, which makes the quieter moments land with even more impact.
Subplots involving law enforcement officers—particularly one cop, Adam Bouchart (Thomas Mann) and his father Jim Bouchart, played by Dennis Quaid, offer some thoughtful narrative symmetry, contrasting two very different kinds of father-son relationships. While these scenes are well-acted and competently woven into the film’s structure, they don’t always feel as urgent or compelling as the Kane storyline. At times, they veer into the realm of “necessary background” rather than essential drama. I’m sure they were also there to ensure the audience would feel sympathy for at least one of the police officers who was needlessly killed in this tragedy, but I didn’t feel that was entirely necessary. I maintain the true tragedy was still centered around Joseph Kane and that was impactful enough.
Even still, Sovereign sticks the landing. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s an important one; less interested in explosive spectacle than in the slow, tragic corrosion of ideology passed from parent to child.
