{"id":3348,"date":"2026-07-01T07:06:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T07:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3348"},"modified":"2026-07-01T07:06:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T07:06:48","slug":"young-washington-review-george-washington-goes-to-war-in-an-angel-studios-film-thats-like-the-great-man-biographies-you-read-in-grade-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3348","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Young Washington\u2019 Review: George Washington Goes to War in an Angel Studios Film That\u2019s Like the Great-Man Biographies You Read in Grade School"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\u201cYoung Washington\u201d is like one of those great-man biographies you read in grade school. Released by Angel Studios for the Fourth of July, the movie is intended as a bit of likably square, neo-traditional, right-wing-adjacent counterprogramming. But say this much for it: In its life-of-an-American-plaster-saint way, Jon Erwin\u2019s coming-of-age military adventure film doesn\u2019t make being George Washington look any easier than it was.<\/p>\n

Read more Yash\u2019s \u2018Toxic\u2019 Spotlights Its Powerful Female Ensemble in \u2018Ladies & Ladies\u2019 Video (EXCLUSIVE)<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe heart of the movie takes place in 1755, at the start of the French and Indian War, when Washington, 23 years old, has been made an officer of the British Army, though only because he has taken a position that no one else wants: leading a militia of 150 volunteers into the Ohio Territory to wrest the land from the French, who\u2019ve begun to put down stakes there. The first battle is a bloodbath, with the men picked off by musket fire almost at random. But not Washington. He\u2019s so valiant he seems almost mystically protected.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe British, with their haughty dreams of empire, think they have the right to the land, and there are several\u00a0 two-ton ironies built into their attitude. The first is that George shares it \u2014 he wants nothing in the world so much as to join the British Empire (though he chafes, in his way, against the restrictions of their aristocratic system). But the real irony is that the British have teamed up with the Indigenous Seneca population, who loathe the French. Why do they prefer the English? \u201cThis land does not belong to you,\u201d says Tanacharison, a Seneca leader played by Ryan Begay with a somber-voiced solemnity reminiscent of Graham Greene. \u201cWhile you kill each other, we wait to reclaim it.\u201d You want to tell him: Yeah, that\u2019s not going to work out so well.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Washington, William Franklyn-Miller is tall, lean and model-handsome in a way that feels out of period. He comes on like the next Jacob Elordi starring in a \u201cTwilight\u201d reboot. I realize the film is about young<\/em> Washington, but given that it\u2019s trying to tap into our feelings about this most mythic of American leaders, it never connects to our image of the later Washington. Yet Franklyn-Miller isn\u2019t a bad actor; he gives George a quick lashing temper and a desire for fairness that\u2019s instinctive in its smolder. There\u2019s a flashback to Washington\u2019s boyhood, just after his father has died, which means he can no longer attend school and is doomed to be the tenant farmer of Mount Vernon. His older and wealthier half-brother, Lawrence (John Foss), takes it upon himself to educate George, but still tells him: the chips are stacked against you. But he also teaches him a law that turns into the film\u2019s ruling aphorism. It comes from chess: \u201cEven a pawn can take the king.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Paula Reid, CNN\u2019s Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent, Will Exit Ahead of Paramount Takeover<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYoung Washington\u201d is watchable in a stolid way, as if it were a \u201cMasterpiece Theatre\u201d movie made by the Ted Turner Pictures of 20 years ago. Washington has to talk his way into the military, and he\u2019s constantly brushing up against the snobbery of scowling British officers, like the colonial administrator Robert Dinwiddie, played with haughty diffidence by Ben Kingsley. But he wins over the wealthy Lord Fairfax (Kelsey Grammer), who becomes his benefactor, and though Washington\u2019s first military venture is an abject failure, that only heightens his resolve. He is made the aide-de-camp of Gen. Braddock (a blustery Andy Serkis), and this time, facing off against the French, he becomes the leader he was born to be. At one point he\u2019s even an action hero, riding side-saddle, alternating between sword slashes and pumped bullets. By then Tanacharison is telling Washington that he is<\/em> mystically protected, in the mode of certain Indigenous warriors who were placed on earth to be leaders.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film shows us the ragtag beginnings of the rebel movement\u00a0\u2014 the homegrown soldiers who prefer to wear blue uniforms (because they\u2019re harder to see). That\u2019s another metaphor: The British, in their highly visible redcoats, think they\u2019re invincible. But they\u2019re used to an older style of war, fought on open battlefields. (The Americans will be some of the first guerrillas.) \u201cYoung Washington\u201d is just competent enough to create that crisp tug of schoolkid patriotism the books we read as children provided. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you\u2019re not an adult confusing feel-good heroism with the lessons of history.<\/p>\n

Read more Ayushmann Khurrana to Star in \u2018Mupapa,\u2019 First Theatrical Collaboration Between India\u2019s Yash Raj Films and Posham Pa Pictures (EXCLUSIVE)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\u2018Young Washington\u2019 Review: George Washington Goes to War in an Angel Studios Film That\u2019s Like the Great-Man Biographies You Read in Grade School<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n

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\t\tReviewed online, June 29, 2026. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 122 MIN.<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n

    \n
  • \nProduction:<\/strong>
    \nAn Angel Studios release of a Wonder Project, 10 Ton Productions, 2521 Entertainment production. Producers: Jon Erwin, Chip Diggins, Adam Abel, Kristy Choo, Tyler Zacharia. Executive producers: Parker Adams, Benton Crane, Donna Eperon, Ted Field, David E. Fischer, Robert Girard, Jon Gunn, Kelly Merryman Hoogstraten, Ben Howard, Macdara Kelleher, Edmund Sampson, Mike Strong, Jon Walter.\t\t\t<\/li>\n
  • \nCrew:<\/strong>
    \nDirector: Jon Erwin. Screenplay: Jon Erwin, Tom Provost, Diedrik Hoogstraten. Camera: Kristopher Kimlin. Editors: Parker Adams, David de Vos. Music: Benjamin Botkin.\t\t\t<\/li>\n
  • \nWith:<\/strong>
    \nWilliam Franklyn-Miller, Ben Kingsley, Andy Serkis, Joel Smallbone, Kelsey Grammer, Ryan Begay, Mary-Louise Parker, Mia Rodgers, Jonno Davies, John Foss, Michael Benz, Will Joseph. \t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    William Franklyn-Miller plays George Washington as model-handsome and moody, with a cast of supporting scowlers featuring Ben Kingsley and Andy Serkis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1981,2752,2753,2754],"class_list":["post-3348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-andy-serkis","tag-ben-kingsley","tag-kelsey-grammer","tag-young-washington"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Young Washington\u2019 Review: George Washington Goes to War in an Angel Studios Film That\u2019s Like the Great-Man Biographies You Read in Grade School - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3348\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Young Washington\u2019 Review: George Washington Goes to War in an Angel Studios Film That\u2019s Like the Great-Man Biographies You Read in Grade School - 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