I was on Peacock and I saw a giant picture of John Cena. I did not know what it was, so I investigated a bit. It was the link for a movie called The Independent, which, as I said, I had no idea about. I like John Cena and the film is listed as a thriller, which intrigued me. I placed it on my list and I was able to watch it this morning.

The Independent is a political thriller focused around the upcoming presidential election that involved the incumbent Democrat president (Victor Slezak), a Republican senator (Ann O’Dowd) and Independent candidate Nate Sterling (John Cena). Meanwhile, journalist Eli James (Jodie Turner-Smith) was teaming up with legendary Journalist Nick Booker (Brian Cox) to look into a major story involving the candidates and corruption.

This film has an excellent cast. Jodie Turner-Smith is fabulous and has been on the way up. John Cena is cast extremely well in this character. Ann O’Dowd is great. Brian Cox is always solid. There is also Stephen Lang, Luke Kirby, Margaret Odette, Timothy Busfield, Michael Gandolfini, Kecia Lewis, Zane Pais, Andrew Richardson, Julianne Arrieta, and George Aloi.

However, the rest of the film was average to below average. The story was fine, but the dialogue was weak. The direction was unremarkable. There were no shots or moments that made this stand out. It looked boring and simply felt like a normal TV movie.

The film is not offensively bad, but it is just nothing that will be remembered in the long term. The film is a fine time waster, trying to be relevant in the world of politics today, but it does not take any real steps to make this more than just another movie.

2.5 stars