The Independent feels like being stuck in a restaurant with someone who has read too many tweets and not enough columns. Content with platitudes where insight was needed, Rice wastes a terrific cast who are worthy of something much more thoughtful.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 8, 2023

Cox is fabulously acerbic fun and, as he proved on Succession, a master swearer, while Turner-Smith is effective enough in an underwritten role. But so much of the film is derivative, and a melodramatic cancer subplot doesn’t help.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 27, 2023

If nothing else, this solid, by-numbers political thriller serves as a star-making vehicle for British actor Jodie Turner-Smith, who is nothing short of mesmerising as dogged cub reporter Elisha James.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 26, 2023

Insipid and unsatisfying, and completely lacks any kind of authentic insider knowledge of Machiavellian political skullduggery.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 21, 2023

The cast is engaging, with Turner-Smith making for a dogged lead, and Cox captivates as the veteran pundit making one last stand for a beleaguered press.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 16, 2023

Whole movie is kind of a shrug, even if you still turn the pages to see what happens.

Full Review | Nov 10, 2022

Overall, The Independent could be better, but if you're open to the messages it wants to send, it can remind you of the importance of a free and unbiased press.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 9, 2022

As bland and boring a tale of Washington skullduggery as the third-party candidate it posits as shaking up a presidential race.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Nov 9, 2022

Although The Independent brings a solid storyline and explores the importance of female empowerment in the workplace, the film lacks substance and doesn’t bring anything new to the political thriller niche.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 9, 2022

The Independent doesn’t have solid enough writing or vision to rise to the heights of previous stories. It needed more insightful & incisive writing.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 6, 2022

While its idealistic heart is in the right place, taking swipes at both sides of the aisle, this limp satirical thriller feels like a missed opportunity — swinging at broad targets but lacking the subtlety and nuance to resonate more deeply.

Full Review | Nov 4, 2022

An undercooked serving of political skulduggery that nevertheless provides a showcase for the magnetic Jodie Turner-Smith. Like most of the cast, she’s better than the material.

Full Review | Nov 3, 2022

Passably entertaining, even if the fourth-act bait-and-switch registers less as a shocking twist than a mechanical revelation.

Full Review | Nov 3, 2022

The Independent’s underlining theme of freedom of the press is more potent than its delivery.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5 | Nov 2, 2022

Parter's basic structure is fairly solid and his characters are well chosen, but all of his dialogue consists of the sort of hyperbolized declarations of plot exposition that only gets by on guilty-pleasure TV shows.

Full Review | Nov 1, 2022

...The Independent is a reminder of why we need a free and independent press.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 1, 2022

Flat direction makes the writing feel weaker than it is, while full-bodied performances make the drama feel stronger than it was on the page.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Nov 1, 2022