Sanctioning Evil

Sanctioning Evil is a 2022 American action-thriller film written by Kyle Travis Sharp and directed by Ante Novakovic. The film stars Tobias Truvillion, Zach McGowan and Taryn Manning.^[1] The film follows Staff sergeant Reginald Barnes (Truvillion), a recently discharged Army veteran who finds his way back into society via congressman Ambrose (McGowan).^[2] The film was shot in New York and New Jersey in late 2020.^[3]

Sanctioning Evil
Directed by	Ante Novakovic
Written by	Kyle Travis Sharp
Produced by	Harry Azano Taheim Bryan Ante Novakovic Rob Simmons
Starring	Tobias Truvillion Zach McGowan Taryn Manning
Cinematography	John Schmidt
Edited by	Pete Talamo
Music by	Nima Fakhrara
Production companies	JARS Productions Novakovic Bros.
Distributed by	Vertical Entertainment
Release date	October 7, 2022 (2022-10-07)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The film was released on October 7, 2022, by Vertical Entertainment.^[4][5]

Cast

• Tobias Truvillion as Staff sergeant Reginald Barnes
• Zach McGowan as Dakota Ambrose
• Taryn Manning as FBI Special Agent Kensington
• Chris Tardio as Jeff
• Tasha Lawrence as Virginia
• Carrie Kim as Sarah
• Kyle Travis Sharp as Seth
• Kresh Novakovic as Reynolds
• Ebony Jo-Ann as Risa
• James Biberi as Francis
• Betsy Beutler as Ann
• Byron Clohessy as Mendel
• Peter Patrikios as Martin
• Sal Rendino as Dr. Peter Corey

Reception

Film critic Jim Morazzini from Voices from the Balcony gave in 1 of 5 stars writing: "Talky and dull with a plot that relies on coincidence Sanctioning Evil is an overlong mess that could have been a solid revenge-based action film. Or an interesting conspiracy film. Or a thriller about political corruption. Instead, it incorporates bits of all three and comes out with a mess complete with a sanctimonious quote from the Bible to justify it all.”^[6]

Nelson Acosta from Fiction Horizon gave it 8/10 and praised the performances writing: "when the film gets going, it ends up becoming this fascinating exploration of morals in a world that doesn’t want anything to do with them. The film also goes for an ending that feels the complete opposite of what other films are doing. Some might find it anticlimactic, but Sanctioning Evil goes for it and makes the film worth watching."^[7]