Parents' Guide to Sovereign

Based loosely on real events, this drama/thriller taps into the idea that a system that works for companies and against average citizens is broken, but it doesn't dig deeply into the why or the how. Sovereign brilliantly casts Offerman as its big-thinking main character, and the actor uses his cool-headed, matter-of-fact manner to convey the movie's central information. According to Jerry, we are who we are in the flesh and blood, and the rest of it—i.e., numbers, dates, data—isn't real (a "straw man"). Jerry's rhetoric even seems to make sense for a while, until it eventually doesn't. Cracks start to show in his armor when viewers realize that he seems to dress his son very similarly to himself, down to their military-style haircuts, revealing that Jerry's ego has become intermingled with his logic.

The movie occasionally cuts to the lives of Quaid's Bouchart, his wife (Nancy Travis), and their son, hinting at some kind of connection that eventually does pan out, but it seems a little too roundabout. By the time the movie gets to the third act, Sovereign has forgotten "the system" and simply concentrates on the characters and their bitter fates. The movie recalls Falling Down (1993) in that it's founded in the idea that something is wrong with the United States, but it doesn't know how to fix it. It can only rage in a way that sort of feels good, but only briefly and temporarily. Still, it's good that movies like these exist, if only to remind us that we have work to do, but it would be more useful if they were a bit more curious.