--- title: "Young Washington Arrives for the 250th, and Critics Are Divided" description: "Angel Studios has timed a handsome, star-studded historical drama about George Washington's early years to the nation's 250th birthday. Critics call it competent and earnest — and, some say, a little too polished to reckon with the complicated young man at its center." category: "Entertainment" category_url: https://herald.la/category/entertainment author: "Gabriela Soto" published: 2026-07-02T00:50:00.000Z updated: 2026-07-02T00:50:00.000Z canonical: https://herald.la/article/young-washington-arrives-for-the-250th-and-critics-are-divided tags: ["film", "George Washington", "Angel Studios", "historical drama", "Fourth of July", "entertainment"] --- # Young Washington Arrives for the 250th, and Critics Are Divided Angel Studios has timed a handsome, star-studded historical drama about George Washington's early years to the nation's 250th birthday. Critics call it competent and earnest — and, some say, a little too polished to reckon with the complicated young man at its center. The timing is no accident. As the country marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, a new film reaches back to a moment long before the marble and the myth. ## Before the marble "Young Washington," released wide on July 3, traces George Washington's formative years as a young Virginia militia officer, before the Revolution made him a legend. Directed by Jon Erwin and distributed by Angel Studios, the film runs two hours and five minutes and is rated PG-13 for war violence, [according to its listing](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/young_washington). British-born actor William Franklyn-Miller plays Washington, backed by a notably heavyweight supporting cast: Ben Kingsley as Virginia's colonial governor Robert Dinwiddie, Andy Serkis as the British general Edward Braddock, Kelsey Grammer as Lord Fairfax, and Mary-Louise Parker as Washington's mother, Mary. ## Frontier war as crucible The story unfolds during the French and Indian War, casting the Ohio frontier as the crucible in which an ambitious, error-prone young officer began to become the man history remembers. It is fertile ground: Washington's early campaigns were marked by real blunders as well as flashes of the steadiness that would later define him — a tension a film could mine for genuine drama. ## The critics weigh in Early reviews have been respectful rather than rapturous. The film sits at 72 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, a "fresh" but not commanding mark. Reviewers have generally praised the battle sequences and Franklyn-Miller's physical command of the role, along with the gravity the veteran supporting players bring. The central reservation is captured in the headline of Deadline's review, which called the movie a ["sanitized origin story."](https://deadline.com/2026/07/young-washington-review-sanitized-origin-story-1st-president-1236972839/) The implication — that the film smooths over the contradictions that might have made its subject truly compelling — is the sort of critique that tends to follow inspirational biopics of national heroes. Whether that reads as a flaw or a feature depends on what a viewer wants from a holiday-weekend release. ## The Angel Studios lane The distributor is part of the story. Angel Studios, behind hits like "Sound of Freedom" and "Cabrini," has built a following with patriotic, family-friendly and often faith-adjacent films aimed at audiences who feel overlooked by mainstream Hollywood, and it funds many projects through a community-investment model. "Young Washington" fits that mold neatly. ## Worth the trip? For Los Angeles audiences after something fittingly ceremonial this Fourth of July weekend, "Young Washington" offers polished period filmmaking and a first-rate supporting cast. Just go in knowing what kind of portrait it is — one built to inspire more than to interrogate. The real young Washington was a more reckless and complicated figure than the movies usually allow; the 72 percent on the Tomatometer suggests a film that is solid and stirring in stretches, if not quite the great American picture the anniversary might have invited. ## Sources - [Young Washington Review: Sanitized Origin Story of 1st President](https://deadline.com/2026/07/young-washington-review-sanitized-origin-story-1st-president-1236972839/) - [Young Washington](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/young_washington) - [Young Washington — official film page](https://www.angel.com/movies/young-washington)