The Independent

Not sure why this is getting so much hate in the reviews on here. It's a clever little political thriller with enough twists to keep you interested. It's well acted - Brian Cox is always great and John Cena shows yet another side to his expanding acting range - he's just getting better and better with everything he's in. (Not sure Peacemaker can be topped for sheer brilliance though).

Jodie Turner Smith starts off a little wooden but grows into the role as the film goes on, though this may well simply be the journey that her character is on, growing in knowledge and confidence over the course of the film.

An enjoyable and diverting movie, great stuff.

Set in the months leading up to the 2024 United States presidential election, Olympic Gold Medalist Nate Sterling (John Cena) against all odds has become a viable candidate running as an Independent against the two political parties. At newspaper The Washington Chronicle, reporter Elisha "Eli" James (Jodie Turner-Smith) is researching a dip in lotto jackpots despite jackpots typically increasing during a recession. As Eli looks further into the anomaly, she finds connections in the accounting of the corporation managing the lottery with a super PAC working on behalf of Republican Senator and presidential hopeful Patricia Turnbull (Ann Dowd). Eli teams up with veteran columnist Nick Booker (Brian Cox) and the two set out to uncover a far-reaching conspiracy.

The Independent is a political thriller written by Evan Parter, and the feature directing debut of Amy Rice who'd previously served as a staff writer on Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom and has some experiencing operating in the political arena having co-directed the 2009 documentary By the People: The Election of Barack Obama. Parter's script appeared on the 2013 Blacklist of best unproduced screenplays, but it wasn't until 2020 when the film was announced with Amy Rice directing and Kumali Najiani slated to play the lead until he dropped out with Jodie Turner-Smith taking over. Now dropping on Peacock a week before election night in the United States, I'm unfortunately disappointed to say despite proven talent on and behind the camera, The Independent is rather safe and ordinary.

To start off on a good note, the movie is well made with Amy Rice's direction eliciting some solid thrills and performances from her cast. Jodie Turner-Smith is solid as journalist Eli even if the script does occasionally call for her to make some pretty boneheaded decisions at points in the story. Brian Cox is also good as Eli's mentor/partner Nick Booker whose very much an old school journalist in both integrity and ethics and he's established as being something of a "man out of time" with how he plans to soon retire and he's quite good in the role. The biggest surprise however was in John Cena playing political candidate Nate Sterling and despite Cena more known for action oriented or comedic parts, he does pretty well playing a charismatic "outsider" politician thanks in no small part to Cena's inherent charisma so it works pretty well for what it's doing.

I think where the movie faulters however is in the core of this story because despite The Independent taking place in the "here and now" of American politics, it also feels oddly divorced from it as if the script is still operating in the years of 2010-2012. While there are some references to current events like fake news, conspiracy theories, and 1/6, the movie doesn't feel reflective of the current political landscape especially when you have candidates who've openly spouted or endorsed Q nonsense. The movie has a very wishy washy take on politics never really taking any sort of stance on it down to the fact the reveal of the conspiracy is apolitical in nature. The Independent feels like the kind of movie that should've come out around the same time as something like Rendition, State of Play, or Green Zone and that kind of narrative while still there isn't really at the forefront of the American political anymore due to the rise of extremists beliefs and conspiracy theories becoming more mainstreamed.

The Independent despite a topic premise and release date a mere week out from the election is well made and well-acted, but at its core it's a very generic conspiracy thriller that's completely divorced from the American political scene in which it sets itself. Instead of making commentary on real world political hysteria, The Independent creates an easy out for itself that leaves it a pretty toothless affair albeit one that's not poorly made or badly acted.

I really enjoyed 90% of the movie. It had some powerful acting and an interesting storyline. However, John Cena should never have been cast. I like the guy and think he's incredibly talented in what he's good at but for this part it's a resounding no. The female candidate was also a bit iffy which is a shame to the rest of an outstanding ensemble. It's movies like this that make me really frustrated. It must be clear to the director, other actors, producers, post production etc. That it didn't work but they went ahead with it anyway. When a company knows talent like Jodie Turner-Smith and Brian Cox, how can they accept second rate performances from others? Either do it right or not at all.

I'm a bit shocked to see a film with some major actors go this under the radar, but here we are. I mostly enjoyed this film. Yes, it rehashes a lot of political thriller tropes, however it updates some for the time. Brian Cox remains an absolute powerhouse of a performer and the film excels when he is on screen. The rest of cast does a fine job and I don't understand the criticism of Cena. He showed on Peacemaker that he has dramatic chops and I thought he did well for what the role asked of him. The story isn't too original, but it remains reasonably compelling until the end. For a direct to Peacock film, I was pleasantly surprised.

Talented young Journalist Eli James uncovers an Earth shattering truth about

For a so called thriller, this really did lack one element, thrills. From the outset it seemed as though it was going to be a slick, fast paced thriller full of subterfuge and intrigue, sadly it was just boring.

I wasn't keen on the production of this film, it looked and felt a little cheap, like a made for TV thriller that ends up showing on a Sunday afternoon slot some time in April.

I stuck it out until the end, hoping for it to get better, and wanting it to get better, personally I think it flatlined quite early on, and never sparked into anything.

Brian Cox has always been a good actor, and he did a good job, albeit within the confines of the script. If I'm honest, I watched this primarily because I wanted to see how good Jodie Turner Smith was following on from the ill fated Anne Boleyn series. I thought Jodie was ok, again hampered by the average script.

4/10.