There are some movies you admire. There are others that surprise you.

“Young Washington” grazes the first category while falling into the second.

I wasn’t expecting to be swept away by a relatively modest historical drama about George Washington before he became the father of a nation. And for a while, I wasn’t.

The film takes its time introducing the future president, and that deliberate pace occasionally borders on sluggish. The first half struggles to find its rhythm, and there are moments when the story feels more interested in checking historical boxes than pulling us into the drama.

But somewhere along the way, something changed.

I stopped watching a history lesson and started watching a young man trying to figure out who he wanted to become.

By the end, I found myself surprisingly invested. Not because “Young Washington” is a perfect movie. Because it reminded me why stories about imperfect people often make for the best history.

A surprisingly ambitious production

One of the first things that stood out was just how good this movie looks.

This isn’t a blockbuster with the budget of films like “The Patriot” or “The Last of the Mohicans.” In fact, when you consider what those productions cost – and adjust for inflation – the difference is enormous.

That’s what makes this film’s production value so impressive.

The costumes, locations, and battle sequences all feel authentic enough to transport you back to colonial America. There are moments where it’s clear the filmmakers had to be creative with their resources, but more often than not they make those limitations disappear.

It’s a reminder that good filmmaking isn’t always about having the biggest budget.

Sometimes it’s about knowing exactly where to spend the money you do have.

An uneven cast, but strong performances where it matters

The acting is a bit of a mixed bag.

There are performances that occasionally feel stiff and a few scenes where the dialogue doesn’t land with the emotional weight it’s reaching for.

Fortunately, those moments never completely pulled me out of the movie.

Ben Kingsley brings a welcome sense of gravitas whenever he appears, and Andy Serkis continues his remarkable ability to disappear into whatever role he’s given. Their performances help ground the film and elevate several key moments.

More importantly, the actor portraying the young Washington succeeds where it matters most.

He made me curious.

Rather than presenting Washington as the flawless hero we’ve seen in countless paintings and history books, the film allows him to be uncertain, ambitious and, at times, deeply conflicted.

That humanity gives the story life.

The best history asks bigger questions

What I appreciated most wasn’t simply learning facts about George Washington’s early life. It was watching the experiences that slowly shaped the leader he would become.

The movie explores questions that feel surprisingly relevant today.

Why do we chase success? Is ambition about building our own legacy? Seeking recognition? Or is it about leaving the world a little better than we found it?

Washington makes mistakes, he learns hard lessons and his failures become just as important as his victories.

Whether every conversation happened exactly as portrayed is almost beside the point. The film captures something emotionally true about leadership – wisdom is usually earned, not inherited.

That’s where “Young Washington” found its strongest footing.

A finale worth waiting for

For much of its runtime, I’d describe “Young Washington” as good. Not great.

The pacing continues to wobble, and I occasionally found myself wishing the story would move with a little more urgency.

Then came the final act.

Without spoiling anything, the emotional payoff finally arrives.

The themes the movie has been quietly building suddenly click into place, and what felt like a slow burn becomes something genuinely moving.

I left the theater feeling more invested than I expected, and that ending elevated the entire experience.

Sometimes a great conclusion doesn’t erase a movie’s flaws. It simply reminds you why the journey mattered.

What parents should know

“Young Washington” is PG-13, and that seems appropriate. There is no vulgar language, no sexual content, but it is a war movie, and it can get violent. It’s not gruesome or graphic, but there are battle scenes, deaths, and some blood. Young viewers may find it unsettling, and some older viewers may cover their eyes a time or two.

The violence is not romanticized but rather shown to depict the horrors of war.

Conclusion

“Young Washington” isn’t the definitive Revolutionary War epic.

It has pacing issues, some performances are uneven, and the script occasionally struggles to maintain momentum.

But I also found myself thinking about it long after the credits rolled.

In an era when so many historical films try to overwhelm audiences with spectacle, “Young Washington” focuses on something much simpler: the formation of character.

It asks how ordinary choices become extraordinary leadership. How failure shapes conviction. How service ultimately matters more than personal glory.

Watching it on the eve of the Fourth of July felt especially fitting.

As America celebrates 250 years, this movie serves as a reminder that the nation’s founding wasn’t accomplished by mythical figures who always knew the right answer. It was shaped by real people who stumbled, learned, and ultimately chose something bigger than themselves.

That’s a story worth telling.

And despite its imperfections, “Young Washington” tells it well enough that I walked away feeling just a little more grateful, and a little more excited, to celebrate this great country I have the opportunity to call home.

July 4 weekend is a quiet one for new indie releases, leaving the field to Angel Studios’ PG-13 wide release Young Washington on 2,700 screens.

From Angel and Wonder Project, the film, timed to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S., stars British actor William Franklyn-Miller as the young man who would go on to become the nation’s first president.

Directed by Jon Erwin (I Can Only Imagine, Jesus Revolution), with Mary-Louise Parker as George’s mother, Ben Kingsley as Virginia Gov. Robert Dinwiddie, and Kelsey Grammer as wealthy nobleman Lord Fairfax. See Deadline review.

Synopsis: “Before he was the Father of a Nation, he was a soldier fighting to survive. A single misstep thrusts young George Washington into the center of a global conflict, testing his honor, loyalty, and courage. As alliances crumble and the frontier erupts into war, he must confront not only his enemies but the man he’s becoming.”

The action is set in the 1750s with Washington as a young man eager to fight, initially as a British officer in a period of complex loyalties. He enlists at 23 and leads a disastrous campaign against the French in Ohio but fights brilliantly and his career takes off.  

Elsewhere this frame, Music Box Films is out with a 4K restoration of Ross McElwee’s Sherman’s March July 3-9 at Film Forum. It will lead into Venice award-winning Remake, McElwee’s new documentary, which premieres at the NYC art house July 10.

Sherman’s March, which won the Grand Jury prize at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival, was ranked as one of the highest-grossing documentary films of all time until the mid-1990s. In it, McElwee sets out to make a movie about Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea towards the end of the American Civil War, but keeps getting sidetracked by his own love life. He’ll appear in-person for post-screening Q&As on July 8-9.

Kino Lorber opens Sasha Waters’ Mary Oliver: Saved By the Beauty of the World, on the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, at the IFC Center in New York today, expanding to select theaters nationwide in the coming weeks. The documentary includes new recitations of her work by fans as varied as Stephen Colbert, Lucy Dacus, Steve Buscemi and Oprah Winfrey and Helena Bonham Carter alongside stories from longtime friends like John Waters.

World premiered in March at the True/False festival in Columbia, MO, screened at DOC NYC Spring Selects, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival and the Miami Film Festival. Waters gained access to Oliver’s personal archives to make the film. 

Citizen Kane is also back via Fathom Entertainment at about 900 theaters on July 5 and July 8. It’s for the 85^th anniversary of the 1941 classic directed by and starring Orson Welles as publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane. The rerelease includes exclusive insight from Leonard Maltin.