Movie About Horrific Police Shooting Is One Of The Best Films Of The Year | REVIEW

"Sovereign" with Nick Offerman is one of the best movies of 2025.

Basic info:

• Plot: Inspired by true events, SOVEREIGN is a tense and provocative true-crime thriller about a father and his teenage son — Jerry and Joseph Kane (Nick Offerman and Jacob Tremblay) — who follow the Sovereign Citizen belief system, a deeply anti-establishment worldview rooted in distrust of government authority. As the pair travel across the country delivering self-taught legal seminars and pushing back against systems they believe have failed them, their journey brings them into conflict with Police Chief John Bouchart (Dennis Quaid), setting off a tragic chain of events that forces a reckoning with power, principle, and the limits of freedom.
• Cast: Nick Offerman, Jacob Tremblay, Thomas Mann, Dennis Quaid, Martha Plimpton, and Nancy Travis
• Release date: July 11, 2025
• Rating: R

"Sovereign" is an outstanding movie about a 2010 police shooting.

Now, I'm sure some of my readers are pretty confused right now. On Thursday, I wrote a piece ripping the trailer for the film as something that resembled propaganda. I wasn't impressed at all when I saw the trailer, which was a bit surprising because I love Nick Offerman as an actor. Yet, it just didn't sit right with me.

Not to get too much into the nitty-gritty details, but someone reached out to me after I posted that article for a very civil conversation about the film. I promised to watch the movie with a total and clear open mind, and I received a screener.

I was genuinely excited to fire it up Thursday night. After all, Offerman is an absurdly talented actor, and the true story is tragic, horrific and heartbreaking.

"Sovereign" tells the story of the 2010 police shooting in West Memphis, Arkansas. I won't spoil all the details here, but there's a ton of information about it online.

Nick Offerman stars as Jerry Kane in the movie "Sovereign." (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

However, the actual shooting is a relatively small part of the film. Instead, "Sovereign" focuses heavily on the relationship Jerry Kane (Offerman) had with his son Joe (Jacob Tremblay).

Jerry is a sovereign citizen who believes the government lacks authority, and his bitterness is tied to financial woes and a sense of being rejected by society. Joe is torn between chasing his father's approval and wanting to go his own way. He seems aware of the absurdity of his father's views, but can't break away. There's an arc in the film about Joe wanting to enroll in school to be around other kids, but it's never able to materialize.

In the end, "Sovereign" is a story about fathers and sons (there's a total of three different but intertwined stories focusing on that in the movie), and how the choices people make can set them on paths of horrific self-destruction. There's also a moment after the bullets stop flying that will rip your heart out.

One of my biggest concerns after seeing the trailer was that the movie would paint everyone who likes guns or is skeptical of government control as an insane person eager to murder. Honestly, I stand by my belief that it's a justified concern, judging from the way the trailer is presented.

However, that's not featured at any point in the film. Not even a little bit. In fact, the film goes out of its way to not dehumanize the Kanes, despite it would have been very easy to do. 

Instead, the film tries to help people understand how a father and his teenage son could have found themselves in such a dark place. It does a great job of getting the audience to empathize with Joe and the unfortunate situation he was born into, for lack of a better way of summing it up. Tremblay also puts on an incredible performance that matches Offerman step for step. I wouldn't be surprised at all if both take home some awards for "Sovereign."

It's important to keep an open mind, and that's exactly what I set out to do when I watched "Sovereign." If it had been terrible, I'd be here destroying it for all of you.

It's not terrible. It's one of the best movies I've seen all year. It's gripping, horrifying, depressing and a sad look at how some people just lose their way in life.

I'm more than happy to admit my initial feelings were 100% incorrect. Definitely check out "Sovereign." It's worth your time, and the fact it's a true story makes it all the better. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.