John Cena made his acting debut in the WWE film, The Marine in 2006. He’s gone on to be part of the Fast and the Furious series and stars in Peacemaker, among a bevy of other roles. In his latest role, he plays a gold medalist-turned-politician in The Independent.
Cena joins a cast featuring Jodie Turner-Smith (Anne Boleyn), Brian Cox (Succession), and Ann Dowd (Law and Order). It began streaming on Peacock last week with very little promotion. In fact, it came out exactly one week before the U.S. mid-term election. Since WWE’s PLE air on Peacock and Cena is one of the biggest stars they’ve ever had, you’d think Peacock would bank on that to attract the WWE crowd.
The official synopsis reads “It’s the final weeks of the most consequential presidential election in history. America is poised to elect either its first female president or its first viable independent candidate. Reporting history as it’s made, an idealistic young journalist teams up with her idol, legendary journalist Nick Booker, to uncover a conspiracy that places the fate of the election, and the country, in their hands.”
John Cena Has a Supporting Role
While Cena is one of the more well-known cast members, he is not the star of The Independent. As Nick Sterling, he plays a key, but supporting role. The star of the film is Turner-Smith, the aforementioned “idealistic young journalist”.
Cena is a natural at playing a politician. WWE fans got a taste of this when he partnered with the #WeAreAmerica campaign several years ago. Sterling could’ve made that an ad for his campaign.
The big speech that Sterling gives sounds very much like a wrestling promo. He relates to the crowd with an anecdote about his family. There was a clip of the speech going around on social media in which Cena uses his old trademark line, “Their time is up, our time is now.”
The Independent has a run time of 108 minutes and probably could’ve been about 20 minutes shorter. It’s clunky in parts and is a little slow going in the beginning. I found myself losing interest at times. Turner-Smith and Cox are excellent together and carry the movie. Cena holds his own and does a great job as a potential presidential candidate.
If John Cena is looking to take on more dramatic or serious roles, this is a good way to dip his toe into the water.
