Detective Knight: Independence (2023)

My Review

“Detective Knight: Independence” is the story of an LAPD detective’s attempt to stop a vigilante EMT worker from causing havoc around Los Angeles on the July 4 holiday weekend in the ambulance that he has commandeered. Director-screenwriter Edward John Drake (“Breach” 2020) has created an exciting movie that is an interesting story and filled with plenty of action sequences as well.

The star of the show is Bruce Willis as Detective James Knight, the third time he has played this role under Drake’s supervision. The first two were “Detective Knight: Rogue” (2022) and “Detective Knight: Redemption” (2022). Willis turns in a good performance, despite this being his second to last motion picture before his retirement announcement in 2022 due to health problems.

The top co-star is Jack Kilmer, son of Val Kilmer, who plays the ambulance hijacker. Jack delivered a good performance, quite a chip off the old block. The cast also includes Willow Shields, Lochlyn Munro, Timothy V. Murphy, Jimmy Jean-Lewis, Lorenzo Antonucci, Francis Cronin, and Dina Meyer. As was the case with its two predecessors, “Detective Knight: Independence” was a big flop at the box office for distributor Lionsgate Films and was released on DVD very soon after. It was filmed in Las Cruces, New Mexico.