R | 1h 40m | Drama | 2025
Nick Offerman’s career-defining character on TV’s “Parks & Recreation,” Ron Swanson, had a few functions on the show. One of them was the grounding counterpoint his Libertarian screeds had on Leslie Knope’s (Amy Poehler) overly optimistic liberalism. It gave audiences the rare, positive portrayal of a small-government outlook.
In “Sovereign,” Offerman’s Jerry Kane goes off the deep end of that spectrum as a zealous adherent of one of America’s more dangerous political theories—the concept of sovereign citizens. It’s a whackjob political philosophy based on the idea that if the state derives its power from the people, then a person has the right to withdraw from the state and become a sovereign nation of one.
The sovereign citizen movement is a large anti-government extremist movement whose followers believe that courts have no jurisdiction over people. They reject the legitimacy of the U.S. government, believing they are exempt from its laws. They subscribe to various conspiracy theories and pseudo-legal arguments to justify their beliefs and actions.
They also currently come from diverse backgrounds. Historically, the movement was associated with white supremacism and antisemitism, with origins in groups like the Posse Comitatus, but has since expanded to include various ethnicities.
Its so-called tenets resonate with a particular type of denial-riddled, victim-mentality inflamed individual. These people have a pathological hatred of institutional power, a predilection and “talent” for spouting legal rulings of their own creation, and vehemently believe all of their spewed nonsense. That’s Jerry Kane.
Almost a Good Dad
What’s tragic is that Jerry is also a stern but caring father to a teen, and is trying to raise his son right. Of course that entails indoctrinating his son Joe (Jacob Tremblay of “Life of Chuck”) into his anti-government mindset.
The tragedy’s journey begins with a flash-forward—there’s police radio chatter about a deadly shooting. Question is, whose body is on the side of the highway on-ramp?
Writer-director Christian Swegal’s debut feature is based on a May 20, 2010, West Memphis, Arkansas incident. During a traffic stop, police officers Brandon Paudert and Bill Evans were shot and killed by self-declared sovereign citizen 45-year-old Jerry R. Kane Jr. and his son, Joseph. Police backup then killed the two suspects. The film, however, is more of a warning than a recounting.
‘Sovereign’
Offerman portrays Kane as a ruddy-faced, seethingly self-righteous, military flat-top-sporting radical who drank the sovereign citizen Kool-Aid.
Kane comes off as a con man as he travels about in a white suit reminiscent of Cousin Eddie’s white shoes in “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” He holds “education sessions” in seedy settings for bumpkins with tax issues and gripes regarding anything involving banks, paperwork, and fine print. But as he coerces his 15-year-old son Joe to drive around Northwest Arkansas wearing an identical white suit and red tie, it’s clear that Jerry Kane is a true believer.
Real-world Ron
It would be easy to make this shattered and dangerous man a cardboard villain. But it’s the fun casting of Nick Offerman that roots the film in reality. Offerman’s Jerry almost excises Ron Swanson from the cartoonish context of a sitcom and places him in a real-world context. Real-world Ron Swanson could simply be a stolid Libertarian, or, he could conceivably be not all that far removed from Jerry; he could similarly grumble about government overreach, concoct word salads of pseudo-legalese, and believe them. That’s cartoonish.
However, Ron has an avuncular charm, whereas Jerry is in a constant, sweaty, state of denial. He’s thoroughly convinced he can hold law enforcement, judges, and bailiffs at bay with magical thinking in the form of pompous legal-claptrap rants. Jerry’s narcissistic bluster shows how much psychological damage he does to son, Joe, and girlfriend, Lesley Anne (a very fine Martha Plimpton).
Counterpoint
Offerman’s Jerry is also a counterpoint to John Bouchart (Dennis Quaid)—a law enforcement officer with real parenting skills. In the inevitable showdown between John Bouchart and Jerry Kane, “Sovereign” becomes a great American tragedy.
Is it perhaps also propaganda? Hollywood tends to avoid stories that speak to news ignored by Legacy Media outlets and play up concepts like “Sovereign” that align with leftist views, such as “The Order.” It likes to insinuate that things like white supremacy and other such fringe factions loom large over American society, when they actually don’t.
None of the above, however, divests “Sovereign” of its haunting power or the tractor beam of Offerman’s performance. Kane is a zealot and devoted father rolled into one, and the tension of that duality makes “Sovereign” worth a look.
“Sovereign releases in select theaters on July 11.
‘Sovereign’
Director: Christian Swegal
Starring: Nick Offerman, Jacob Tremblay, Dennis Quaid
MPAA rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
Release Date: July 11, 2025
Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
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