the english movie reviews

Entertainment
Amazon’s <i>The English</i> Is a Stunning Western That Reimagines America’s Founding Fantasy

Amazon’s The English Is a Stunning Western That Reimagines America’s Founding Fantasy

F or the Europeans who colonized it in the 19th century, the American West promised money, power, and freedom. Civilization was an afterthought, except within the Indigenous communities that would fall prey to the genocidal ideology of Manifest Destiny. The conflict between ruthless, lawless self-interest and the human instinct to form bonds of mutual care has always been central to the western genre . Yet it’s rare to see a variation on the theme achieve the depth and poignance of The English .

Written and directed by Hugo Blick, the creator of sophisticated, politically engaged British dramas like The Honorable Woman , this insightful Amazon-BBC co-production, which comes to Prime Video on Nov. 11, opens with a chance encounter. Upon arriving at a dusty hotel in the desolate Kansas of 1890, Lady Cornelia Locke ( Emily Blunt ) finds a badly beaten man, Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), chained to a post. She’s an English aristocrat on a mission to kill the man who killed her son. He’s a newly retired Pawnee scout traveling to Nebraska to claim land he’s owed under the Homestead Act but—despite and because his ancestors made their homes in the same area—will likely have to take by force. She saves him, then he saves her. They’re strangers, but unlike other strangers who cross paths on these eerily empty plains, they’ve earned each other’s trust.

As they ride north, it slowly becomes apparent that they have more in common than a direction or their loneliness or an increasingly affectionate allyship. Known for the complexity of both his story lines and the moral quagmires he creates, Blick populates three decades’ worth of history surrounding the dual protagonists with often-ghoulish supporting characters who represent all sorts of wild, self-serving beliefs about destiny, loyalty, revenge, ethics, identity. The English makes the argument that these mismatched convictions, forged from the bloody battles fought between Native Americans and European invaders but also within each broadly defined group, converged to form a fantasy known as the United States of America.

TV’s greatest western, Deadwood , arrived at a similar conclusion, paraphrasing an adage attributed to Napoleon as “history is a lie agreed upon.” The story of Cornelia and Eli is a different kind of lie; it’s a fiction, and one whose sentimentality in later installments of the six-episode series barely undermines its beauty as a counter-narrative. Violent, macabre, and in many ways tragic, The English doesn’t deny what we know about what really happened when cultures collided on the frontier. Instead, it finds beauty in imagining how different people in the same situation, driven by purer motives and united by trust, might have built something better.

More Must-Reads from TIME

Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town
Lionel Messi Isn't Finished Yet
The Lara Trump Project
4 Signs Your Body Needs a Break
Fiji’s Fiery Battle Against Plastics
Column: AI-Driven Behavior Change Could Transform Health Care
How to Watch Lost in 2024 Without Setting Yourself Up for Disappointment
Get Our Paris Olympics Newsletter in Your Inbox

an image, when javascript is unavailable

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy . We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Emily Blunt’s Ultra-Violent Western ‘The English’ Tells How the West Was Lost

Ben travers.

Share on Facebook
Share to Flipboard
Share on LinkedIn
Show more sharing options
Submit to Reddit
Post to Tumblr
Print This Page
Share on WhatsApp

If many a Western captures the sweeping romance of America’s land rush — idealizing a time when seizing one’s future involved planting a literal flag — then “ The English ” serves as a bright red rebuttal; a revisionist take among the modern era’s various reconsiderations, this time emphasizing the tears, sweat, and oh-so-much-blood required to reach the dream awaiting colonizers somewhere west of the Mississippi.

Writer-director Hugo Blick (“The Honorable Woman”) still embraces traditional elements of the genre, centering his six-part Prime Video series around a rhapsodic love story and capturing plenty of vast prairies in picturesque, sun-kissed shots. But it’s the edge carved into every corner of “The English” that helps the limited series stand out. From the cutting dialogue to its jagged mystery, Blick’s latest story finds consistent success not by drawing pained parallels between past and present but by astutely acknowledging the ferocity ingrained in America’s identity all along.

The cast is also quite good. Emily Blunt produces and plays Lady Cornelia Locke, an aristocrat from England who arrives in America seeking revenge. Her son has died (under undisclosed circumstances), and she’s tracked those she deems responsible to these parts. Unfortunately, they’ve tracked her as well. Cornelia’s mettle is tested (and flaunted, as any action series featuring Blunt’s intimidating talents should) by a procession of colorful characters played by accomplished character actors, all happy to sink their teeth into spirited dialogue and mythic personalities.

Ciarán Hinds makes for a beguiling, tone-setting first opponent: “There are many who can welcome you to the real America,” Mr. Watts (Hinds) says, “but only one who can truly mean it.” His greeting includes a snazzy green vest, the signature piece of a formal three-piece suit (one of many striking ensembles made by costumer Phoebe De Gaye); a theatrical gesture toward the panoramic vistas in the distance (captured both in stark remove and lush detail by cinematographer Arnau Valls Colomer); and courteous responses to her curt inquiries… all until he knocks her out cold in an attempt to steal everything she’s carried over land and sea.

This marks a fitting introduction for Cornelia to America and audiences to the series, as Blick builds early episodes around the alluring, aforementioned formal elements and, more generally, alternating moments of debonair discussions and shocking violence. Cornelia and Watts’ dinner table dialogue crackles with wit. Each actor speaks with infectious confidence and curiosity, and you’ll be chuckling along with them until the next surprise smack reminds you what’s at stake — and who they really are. Toby Jones, Stephen Rea, and Tom Hughes each get their time to shine, but respect must be paid to Rafe Spall for his all-in heel turn. Sporting a helmet-like bowler and speaking in a beefed-up Cockney accent, the late-arriving “Trying” star steadily builds a towering presence that would be too big for nearly any other show. Here, though, he’s just right — a boss you love to hate and hate to love, blending brutish charm and unspeakable savagery into an anti-gentleman who’s still able to flourish in a country that rewards such behavior, so long as a white man embodies them.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back when Mr. Watts is welcoming Cornelia to the U.S. of A., just out of eyesight is an Indigenous American, tied up, beaten, and restrained. This is Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), a Pawnee-born ex-cavalry scout who only wants to claim the land that is rightfully his (twice over). Whipp, a man of few but purposeful words, served his time in the Civil War, even looking the other way when his fellow soldiers took out their frustrations, aggression, and fears on Indigenous people. Now, he’s traveling toward Wyoming, where he plans to lay claim to a few acres and build a new life. But if Mr. Watts’ assault doesn’t make this clear already, just about everyone Whipp comes across tells him the same thing: He’s not getting that land. And for the same reason he was attacked and tied up: “The color of his skin,” as Mr. Watts readily admits.

The English Amazon Prime Video Emily Blunt Chaske Spencer

Despite his early predicament, Whipp’s path soon intersects with Cornelia’s. She claims it’s magic — a kind of fate ushered in by necessity and a mutual understanding between two good souls in a nation filled with bad ones. How they’re pulled apart and pushed together again makes up the murky, mysterious middle of an otherwise straightforwardly entertaining six hours (less, since most episodes run close to 50 minutes). “The English” over-complicates its plot at times, which, combined with Blick’s enthralling yet extravagant dialogue, can trip up an otherwise thrilling chase. (I found myself regularly skipping back and forth just to make sense of things — an odd feeling for a show with an easily understood intro and themes so clear they border on overkill.)

But what it may lack in efficiency, it more than makes up for in spirit. Blunt and Spencer create genuine characters out of their archetypes. (He a noble gunslinger who’s hunted where a white war hero would be glorified, she a frilly-dressed homesteader hellbent on vengeance, yet preserving a heart of gold.) “The English,” like the land on which it’s set, is built on contradictions. To describe it as a rollicking good time wouldn’t be far off, even if such unchecked elation doesn’t quite prepare viewers for the heartrending twists and turns. Blick’s latest is far from the first revisionist Western to imply the Wild West wasn’t as clean and proper as genre classics first portrayed, nor is it saying anything particularly profound by outlining how deep the roots of violence go in a country built by fleeing immigrants (and persecuted natives).

And yet those ideas still pack a punch. During the last few years of pandemic denials and political divisions, of COVID body counts and regular school shootings, plenty of modern aristocrats have wondered where our savagery and selfishness stems from; why there’s a tacit acceptance of so many seemingly avoidable deaths in the land of the free. “The English” outlines at least one theory: Bloodshed is the American way, and so is believing we can put it behind us. Blick’s explanation is nestled somewhere within the connection between its graceful aesthetics and ruthless inclinations, its sweeping romance and star-crossed lovers, its white flags and red ones.

“The English” premieres Friday, November 11 on Amazon Prime Video .

Most Popular

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘the english’ review: emily blunt in amazon’s big, bold swing of a western.

Hugo Blick's six-part series pairs Blunt and Chaske Spencer as outsiders seeking revenge on the wide open prairie.

By Daniel Fienberg

Daniel Fienberg

Chief Television Critic

Share on Facebook
Share to Flipboard
Send an Email
Show additional share options
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest
Share on Reddit
Share on Tumblr
Share on Whats App
Print the Article
Post a Comment

‘The English’ Review: Emily Blunt in Amazon's Big Swing of a Western

As presented in Hugo Blick ‘s new Amazon limited series The English , the Old West was a dangerous place: a collection of breathtaking vistas connected by trauma from horrifying massacres, in which disease-ridden, testicle-eating outlaws sold their services to the highest bidder and the only currency more valuable than acreage was revenge. No place for a woman, but no place for a man either.

THR Newsletters

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘exploding kittens’ review: netflix’s admirably zany animated cat comedy could use sharper jokes, heather dubrow and tamra judge say ‘rhoc’ feels like the “glory days” after a tumultuous season 17, prince harry accepts espn’s pat tillman award after controversy: “we will leave no one behind”, keri russell claims girls were dropped from ‘the all new mickey mouse club’ once they looked “sexually active”, scarlett johansson is “terrified” during husband colin jost and michael che’s ‘snl’ joke swap, shailene woodley, betty gilpin and dewanda wise star in ‘three women’ trailer exploring female desire.

Emily Blunt’s ‘The English’ Is a Punishing, Stunning Western Revenge Tale

Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer are fantastic in Prime Video’s new series, elevating an intentionally murky mystery into an unforgettable, six-part Western epic.

Coleman Spilde

Entertainment Critic

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Amazon Studios

The American West of the 1890s was an unforgiving and cruel place. Land, freedom, and happiness were hard-fought but never guaranteed amidst the greed of white colonialists carrying out the twisted and genocidal tenets of Manifest Destiny. The West was sparse, as were the rewards, and every day brought a new, unexpected battle. Making a life in the post-Civil War plains was an uncharitable undertaking for a pitiless people.

At times, writer/director Hugo Blick’s epic six-episode western The English , out Friday on Prime Video, can feel a lot like that: sprawling and demanding, an almost thankless task. It is not an easy watch by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps that’s what makes the payoff so sizable.

Despite its near-insurmountable density, The English ends six protracted hours as one of the year’s most memorable series, thanks largely in part to its astounding two leads. Emily Blunt stars as Lady Cornelia Locke, an English noblewoman who arrives in the post-war wasteland of the American West with an unyielding taste for revenge. Her destiny binds her to Chaske Spencer’s Eli Whipp, a Pawnee ex-Army scout who has spent most of his life serving his own interests to stay alive.

Blunt and Spencer have a captivating onscreen chemistry. Eli and Cornelia find themselves undeniably linked by a moment in time—a dose of magic that brought them together, as Cornelia says—and watching them uncover the mystery of their shared past is what keeps The English from buckling under its massive scope. This pair of marvelous performances, and the breathtaking technicolor landscapes they’re splashed against, come together to help The English transcend its overstuffed writing, turning the series into an unmissable modern Western.

Diego Lopez Calvin/Prime Video

“Without you, I’d have been killed,” Cornelia says in a voiceover, opening the series. “That’s how we met, that’s why we met. It was in the stars.” When Cornelia first sees Eli, he’s been tied up and held prisoner for the crime of ordering a drink at a white man’s hotel. There’s no actual criminality in Eli’s request. But in a lawless land, a wrong move has put him in the right place for destiny to intervene.

Cornelia has been in America for weeks, using bags of unbanked cash to help her navigate a strange land. She pays off anyone she can to take her further. Her offer to pay for Eli’s release is refused with an assault by the hotelier, knocking her out and sending Eli, handcuffed in a stagecoach, in the other direction. But when a chance encounter leads to Eli’s escape, he returns to Cornelia, by way of a knife in her captor’s back.

Thus, the two are bound by bloodshed. Cornelia knows that the success of her mission hinges on her skills with a gun; she’s seeking revenge on the man she believes killed her son, and her festering anger can only do so much without the proper tools. Eli, torn between the life he had before joining an army cavalry and his post-war insularity decides to join Cornelia to reclaim Pawnee land and see the demise of its colonizers along the way. From that moment, Cornelia and Eli have united in something bigger than themselves, a violent, cosmic mystery that will set forth a chain of events that was in place long before the two of them ever met.

To understand that mystery, you’ll be tasked with a daunting voyage of your own: completing all six episodes.

By the end of the first, you’ll be forgiven if you don’t understand what’s going on. I spent a great deal of The English unsure of exactly what I was supposed to be taking from each episode, trying so hard to ascertain the purpose of each of the series’ many detours. The watch can occasionally feel punishing. Masochism is not the foremost feeling we’re seeking from television.

In this Wild West, there are hucksters peddling information like farmed resources; there are killers who ride with freshly-sheared scalps dangling from their horses; there’s a town built on a secret that slowly changes hands as time goes on, complete with English cattle drivers and hard-nosed widows; there’s a woman named Black Eyed Mog, who is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen on television.

Why viewers spend time with these tangential characters is something that doesn’t become clear until the series’ final episodes. Pulling focus away from Spencer and Blunt for these convoluted subplots causes The English ’s operatic nature to hit an off-note, even if it’s intentional. What was sharp and vivid only seconds earlier quickly becomes brittle and, at the risk of being gauche, momentarily boring. But just around the corner is another tremendous thrill.

For a series that is jumbled to the point of near discombobulation, it sure is gorgeous to look at. Aesthetically, everything about The English is sumptuous. Strikingly bright yellow fields cascade across the frame, positioned against blue skies with perfect clouds that look so unbelievably remarkable, they could be paintings. Scenes look like they’re being filmed on location, on a soundstage, and against flat fabric, old Hollywood backdrops. Like Spaghetti Westerns of yore, much of the series was filmed in Europe, along the kaleidoscopic Spanish countryside. Cinematographer Arnau Valls Collomer brings lasting life and warmth to the desolate American plains. Simply speaking: The English is one of the most visually arresting series of the year.

Compounding all of that beauty are Blunt and Spencer, whose performances both beg for there to be a word even more concise than “triumphant” to underscore their brilliance. Part of what makes The English ’s scattered plotlines so frustrating is that, from their very first scenes, we’re all-in on their unlikely dynamic. In just a few frames, Blunt can move between tepidity and the showy courage of a career gunslinger. We feel the depths of her sorrow and her settled ache for revenge; when Cornelia’s motivations come into focus in the latter half of the series, Blunt does some of the best work of her career reminding us just how powerful a mother’s love can be.

And after a long, underappreciated career, Twilight veteran Chaske Spencer leads The English with all the natural grace and formidable talent of the greatest Western actors. He holds Eli’s patchwork of emotions like a deck of cards, playing each one at the exact right time. Somehow, Spencer wears love, loss, fear, and anger all at once without ever feeling false. It is a bold and commanding performance, often delivered with only a few words.

The English takes work, there’s no doubt about that. This is phone-down, no-talking programming. For some (unfortunately, I suspect, for many), that will prove too daunting a demand. But for those who are up to the challenge, the series’ payoffs will prove far more memorable than all of the effort it took to get there. A little inference and a dash of patience are necessary—this is a Western, after all.

This is Blick’s bleeding-hearted love letter to the genre, and by its end, The English join the ranks of the grandest entries ever made.

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here .

READ THIS LIST

Stranger Things Season 5
Deadpool and Wolverine
The Batman 2
Spider-Man 4
Yellowstone Season 6
Fallout Season 2
The Last of Us Season 2
Entertainment

The English review: an occasionally transcendent Western

Emily Blunt stands near a burning house in The English.

“The English is a narratively messy but consistently engaging Western that is anchored by Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer's spellbinding performances.”

Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer's lead performances
Stunning Western imagery
A memorable villain
Convoluted plotting
A messy finale
Uneven pacing

Cornelia Locke believes in magic. For that reason, the British aristocrat, as played by Emily Blunt, feels uniquely modern in The English . The new limited series from Hugo Blick, which premieres in the U.S. today on Amazon Prime , opens with a flashforward monologue from Blunt about the power of fate. and its first episode concludes with Cornelia boasting about her star sign (she’s a Scorpio because, of course, she is) and sharing her belief in the magic of the universe. The English ’s premiere also makes it clear that Cornelia is a woman on a dangerous mission, a fact that adds a surprising edge to her more eccentric astrological beliefs.

The English is at its best when it makes Cornelia’s trust in magic feel justified. Like many great Westerns , there’s a deep spirituality running throughout The English that adds layers of predetermined weight and tragedy to its story. Across its six episodes, the series frequently makes its own life harder than it needs to be by presenting a fairly straightforward plot in an unnecessarily convoluted way. However, whenever it feels like The English has grown too unwieldy for its creative team, its two stars return to keep it from floating away.

The English tells, in many ways, a simple revenge story. Its first episode introduces Blunt’s Cornelia Locke and then reveals that she, like so many Western heroes before her, has come to the American West of the 1890s looking to right a wrong as violently as she can. We’re told that she’s looking to kill the man responsible for the death of her son, though Cornelia’s actual target is a mystery that The English holds on to for as long as possible. In order to get her revenge, Cornelia requires the help of a Pawnee scout named Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer).

When Cornelia and Eli first cross paths, the latter is just a few months into his retirement from the U.S. military, which he dutifully served for many years. The pair initially seem like they could not be any more different from each other, but the further into The English ’s story we get, the more we realize just how much they actually have in common. Despite their racial, social, and cultural differences, a bond quickly forms between the two that emerges as both the thematic backbone and emotional foundation of The English ’s admittedly messy story.

Fortunately, both Spencer and Blunt are performers who are more than capable of carrying a series like The English . Blunt, for her part, is given the chance to play one of her best roles in years here. The Quiet Place star brings authenticity to every side of Cornelia, whether it be her hard-edged ruthlessness, wholehearted belief in the supernatural, devastating sadness, or charming wit. It’s hard, in fact, to think of a project that has given Blunt more to do than The English , but the series is better off because it does.

Opposite her, Spencer brings a commanding presence to The English . The actor is spellbinding as Eli Whipp, a Pawnee man whose time in the military has instilled both a deep confidence and a profound sense of guilt within him. Spencer’s performance is one built on a series of micro-expressions and sideways glances that, when combined together, make Eli’s complicated past and conflicting inner emotions clear even beneath his ceaselessly calm, collected persona.

Outside of Spencer and Blunt, Rafe Spall gives an oddly entrancing performance as a character whose role in The English is probably best left unspoiled. Other recognizable actors like Toby Jones and Ciaran Hinds turn in reliably memorable performances in otherwise minor, thankless roles. Meanwhile, as its sole director, Hugo Blick fills The English with enough striking images and fittingly sun-soaked compositions to cement the series as one of the more artistically composed Westerns of recent memory .

Blick’s writing does not, however, match the consistency of his directing. The English ’s final two episodes, in particular, unfold in ways that often feel confusing, if not downright incoherent. After introducing one of the more awful TV villains of the year, Blick’s final script for The English fails to deliver the kind of resoundingly cathartic conclusion that the series deserves. That particular failure is partly due to Blick’s overall misuse of a superfluous character played by A Hidden Life star Valerie Pachner.

Despite these flaws, The English is a largely successful, occasionally excellent Western. Even in its worst moments, most of which arrive in its finale, the series still feels like a unique addition to a genre that Hollywood has essentially chosen to ignore in recent years. The show is also, even more importantly, a reminder of what kind of shots actors like Blunt and Spencer can take when they’re given the tools and space that they deserve. The English , to its credit, wisely chooses more often than not to stay out of its stars’ way, which is ultimately why it works as well as it does.

The English is now streaming on Prime Video. Digital Trends was given early access to all six of its episodes.

Editors’ Recommendations

The best movies on Amazon Prime Video (July 2024)
If you have to watch one Amazon Prime Video movie in July 2024, stream this one
Apple TV’s InSight feature is ready to take on Amazon Prime Video’s X-Ray
3 rom-coms on Amazon Prime Video you need to watch in July
3 comedies on Amazon Prime Video you need to watch in July
Product Reviews
Streaming Services

After you're done perusing the various things that are on sale on Amazon for the Fourth of July, you might decide to take advantage of one of the other things your subscription offers you. If you're looking for something to watch over the holiday, then Amazon Prime Video is the perfect place to start.

We've selected five shows available on the streamer that all speak in different ways to what it means to be an American. Whatever your views are on America today, you're sure to find something worth watching on this list. These are the five best Prime Video shows to watch on the Fourth of July weekend.

Mid-week holidays are the worst, because most of us have to come back to work the next day. If you're among the unlucky who had to be back on the job this Friday, then our suggestion for Amazon Prime Video subscribers is to unwind this weekend and catch some of the best movies that you can stream.

The Fourth of July is the most patriotic holiday of the year, but if we recommended something like Born on the Fourth of July, then it's a little too depressing for the occasion. Instead, our picks for the five best Amazon Prime Video movies to watch on the Fourth of July weekend feature some of the streamer's best options for action, comedy, horror, drama, and a thriller.

Want to stream a good movie this month, but you're unsure about what to watch? There are lots of new movies coming out, including some you might have missed when they were first released. But there are also some great movies released as recently as this year that might have fallen under the radar. Many of them are available to watch on Amazon Prime Video with your base subscription.

This month, the three underrated movies on Prime Video you need to watch in July include two movies that were released in the last year, but that may have missed. One is an action thriller starring a pro in the genre, Jason Statham. The other, coming to Amazon Prime Video (without an add-on) near the end of the month, is the story of one of the most prolific music artists of the 1970s, whose music and musical influences have endured for decades. The Beekeeper (2024) THE BEEKEEPER | Official Restricted Trailer

'The English' Centers Humanity in the Vast Western Frontier | Review

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

'Vikings: Valhalla' Season 3 Review: The Age of Vikings Comes to a Bittersweet End

'the boys' season 4 episode 7 recap: a not-so-silent night, 'the acolyte' episode 7 recap: the jedi really are the bad guys.

The American West is a dangerous place for a woman, but so is England and the façade of safety that it offers women—even for wealthy, privileged women like Cornelia Locke ( Emily Blunt ). The English doesn’t shy away from the horrors of the 1890s, but it also carefully avoids turning its portrayal of period-typical violence, racism, and sexism into voyeuristic fodder. Across the six-episode limited series, writer-director Hugo Blick delivers a very even-keeled, but rarely glossy Western that interweaves Locke’s thirst for revenge with Eli Whipp’s ( Chaske Spencer ) own journey, as they come together to brave the bloody and cruel plains.

Their first encounter is one of sheer chance. Shortly after her arrival in Wyoming, Locke happens upon Whipp, near death and left out to hang, and they forge a wholly unexpected friendship (with tinges of something more). They both have more emotional baggage than could easily fill their saddlebags, with Locke’s entire journey centering around her desire for vengeance against the man responsible for her son’s death and her own, even more personal tragedy, and Whipp’s mission to reclaim the land owed to him for his service during the war being marred by the realities that law and order aren’t always honored in the West—especially not for someone born within the Pawnee Nation. The English manages to explore the effects of violent, white patriarchy, with both characters, showing how both Locke and Whipp bear its scars. They both tried to play the game, to fall in line and do what was expected of them, but they both ultimately suffer.

Blunt is no stranger to playing posh aristocrats thrown into dangerous new adventures , but paired with the chemistry she shares with Spencer, The English gives her a chance to elevate her performance to a new echelon. That elevation is reciprocated in Spencer, who may have finally landed a role that allows him to escape the far-reaching shadow of the Twilight Saga . He gives a very compelling performance as Whipp, given room within the material to explore the many facets of the character and push back against some period-typical stereotypes. As much as she is seeking revenge, and he is looking to reclaim land, he is similarly looking for revenge against those who have acted against him, while she is looking to reclaim a sense of self that has been stolen from her.

RELATED: New ‘The English’ Footage Sees Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer Headed Down a Violent Path

The English dances around the chemistry between Blunt and Spencer, only ever really toeing the line of intimacy between the unlikely duo, but at least the plot serves up a convincing reason why their could-be romance is relegated to longing looks and lingering touches. Romantics who swoon at the Pride & Prejudice hand touch will be pleased with what little scraps of affection are allowed between Locke and Whipp.

The series also looks to unravel most of the plot through flashback-heavy episodes that help to piece together the initial information unloaded in the first episode. While there is never any doubt about who Locke and Whipp are as people, it’s through exposition that characters like Thomas Trafford ( Tom Hughes ) are explored, but never quite as far as they could have been. No matter how vast and treacherous the West might be, The English ’s cast of characters are all inherently linked to each other and have no issue crossing paths with each other. To some, this might seem implausible, but it helps to strengthen this idea of the human struggle during this period. No matter how far these characters travel, the impact that they had on others follows them to the grave.

As much as The English is perfectly suited for fans of historical dramas or Westerns, the limited series also caters to an unexpected demographic: fans of Red Dead Redemption . Cornelia Locke’s often fantastical wardrobe looks like it was procured at the general store in Valentine, while some ne'er-do-wells she encounters conjure up warm memories of tracking down bounties, dealing with the O'Driscoll Boys, and exploring the vastness of the wild west. There is another aspect of Locke’s storyline that mirrors Arthur Morgan’s story, which delivers the same emotional devastation as The English draws to a close.

While The English caught my attention with its cast and plot, it fully won me over with its expertly crafted soundtrack. Federico Jusid ’s score is sublime, but how often do you stumble upon a Western that knows Mazzy Star’s somber crooner “Fade Into You” is the perfect backdrop to a hopeless relationship?

There is a lot to love in this six-episode limited series, but it does ultimately leave you wanting more. Blick’s dialogue is keenly crafted, blending harsh realities with endearing sentiments, while giving Blunt and Spencer the lion’s share of material to cut their teeth on. Blick keeps the script very pared-down, abiding by the old style of Westerns that relied heavily on physical performance over spoken performances. The English resonates with its gritty, lived-in atmosphere, and it never loses sight of the humanity at the heart of this tragic tale. No matter how brutal, how bloody, how blistering the quest for vengeance and reclamation is, the unbreakable bonds forged between characters remain center stage.

The English premieres November 11 on Prime Video.

The English Review: A Gorgeous And Gruesome Tale Of Vengeance In The Old West

There's almost always a market for gritty westerns, but there's been a bounty of well-made, pitch-black tales of the American west lately. Joining the ranks of shows like " 1883 " and films like the Academy Award-winning " Power of the Dog " is " The English ," a new Prime Video and BBC limited series from writer and director Hugo Blick about romance and revenge on the lawless prairie.

Emily Blunt stars as Lady Cornelia Locke, an Englishwoman of some means who arrives in Kansas looking for vengeance when the violent chaos of the plains throws a massive wrench in her plans. Her fate seems to be intertwined with a Pawnee ex-calvary scout named Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), who is on his own journey of bloody revenge and redemption. There's more going on — a whole lot more — but the primary drive of the story is Cornelia and Eli's fiery chemistry and their shared goals.

The dialogue is tightly written, the cinematography from director of photography Arnau Valls Colomer is absolutely gorgeous with plenty of stunning landscapes to gaze upon, and there's plenty of action and suspense, but the series rests firmly on Blunt's shoulders. Cornelia has to be more than an archetype in order to hold the series together, and Blunt's incredible performance helps do just that. The script is a bit too complex at times, but the many parts work so well together that "The English" ends up being a compelling and powerful watch.

Bound by fate

When we first meet Cornelia and Eli, she's a well-dressed woman in lace and layers of skirts and he's strung up with rope around his chest, dangling in the hot desert sun as his captors look on. There's an immediate sense of dread, and it never really lets up until the final credits roll. "The English" is not a happy story, and it's an impressively bleak tale of just how horrible living in the anarchy of the time was, and those first few minutes give the audience a pretty good idea as to what they're in for. This isn't "Tombstone" or a John Wayne movie ; this is something a little more gruesome.

Cornelia attempts to save Eli by buying his freedom, but ends up captured by a real jerk (played by Ciarán Hinds) herself instead because she's both beautiful and wealthy. Eli ends up sent on his merry way and comes back to save her, repaying her kindness for trying to save him in the first place, though he says he came back just to get revenge on Hinds' character. Eli thinks Cornelia is too soft, but then she drowns her captor in a pretty elaborate way and he realizes she might have what it takes to survive the west. The two get to know one another and realize they have similar goals and destinations: she's looking for the man who killed her son, while he's looking to reclaim ancestral land. They set out, and the rest of the series follows them on a winding journey that leaves a trail of bodies in their wake.

Elegantly depicted misery

Each episode ends up being a different kind of awfulness that Cornelia and Eli must contend with, and initially, it feels a bit grueling. There are numerous scruffy, dirty men who have their own side stories, and while some of them end up being important by the end, they can occasionally feel a little confusing. Thankfully, the dialogue is so well-written and so well-delivered that it's a joy to listen to, and the visuals are lovely to look at. There are loads of wind-swept plains and wooden buildings lit by the setting sun, contrasting the desolate beauty of the prairie with the desperate violence of the people within it.

What "The English" does better than anything else is impress upon the viewer just how miserable it was to live in the 1800s in the American west. The title refers to the way many British people romanticized the west, both then and now. That idealized version is dashed, of course, and the reality is much, much more brutal. I cannot stress enough just how hard this series is willing to go; it reminds me most of the brilliant Australian film "The Proposition," and features an incredible amount of intense violence and horror. There's murder, rape, torture, and mutilation, and some of the imagery is truly shocking. If you're not prepared to see a wall full of human scalps, this might not be the show for you.

Star-crossed lovers

"The English" has a wonderful supporting cast, including performances by Tom Hughes, Stephen Rea, Ben Temple, and more. The standouts are Gary Farmer (Uncle Brownie from "Reservation Dogs") and Kimberly Guerrero (Auntie B on "Reservation Dogs"), who play a couple of grifters "taking back what's theirs" from the various travelers who wander through their land. Every single actor is giving it their all, but ultimately the most important performances are from Blunt and Spencer. Luckily for "The English," they're both absolutely brilliant, and they have wonderful onscreen chemistry.

I don't really care for fictional romances. I'm a cynical weirdo who finds the vast majority of romance stories trite or annoying, but the fledgling romance at the center of "The English" is truly romantic. The two have conversations that could easily become corny but don't through the power of the performances and script, and their frequent references to the stars become a through-line of their relationship throughout the six episodes. She tells him about her star sign (she's a Scorpio!) and he tells her about Pawnee legends regarding the stars, sharing their individual cultures but creating a shared narrative. Blunt, who many know best for playing Mary Poppins, is at her fiery best here, making even her "A Quiet Place" performance look tame. Cornelia is a flawed female hero who's equal parts beautiful and badass, but never ever feels like someone's historical fantasy dream girl.

"The English" occasionally flounders in its complex narrative, but its performances, dialogue, and cinematography make it a must-see for anyone who likes their westerns a bit more bleak and bloody.

"The English" is now on Prime Video.

The English Review: Saddle Up and Enjoy This Compelling Chase Western

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Touch Review: Baltasar Kormákur Crafts a Spellbinding Tale of Lost Love

All 9 seasons of suits, ranked, 10 memorable tv characters who only appear in the pilot.

Two beleaguered souls meet as if by chance while braving the western frontier. “Can you shoot?” asks a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout, Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer). Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt)—aristocratic, English, fish out of water, disheveled—replies: “If I have to.”

Eli doesn’t miss a beat. “Oh, you’ll have to.”

Welcome to 1890 middle America, a violent landscape inspired by big dreams and filled with plenty of bloodshed. It’s the captivating setting of The English , the new Amazon Studios epic chase Western from award-winning writer and director Hugo Blick ( The Honourable Woman, Black Earth Rising, The Shadow Line ). The six-episode limited series, which hits Amazon Prime on November 11, also happens to be one of the most captivating Westerns to hit the small screen in some time—that’s code for “temporarily pause what you’re currently streaming, folks, and dive into this exceptional experience.”

The English follows Cornelia’s entry into the daunting and dangerous new landscape of the West. She’s determined to get revenge on an unruly gent she blames for the death of her son. Fate bumps her into Eli, a member of the Pawnee Nation by birth and a guy with his own dilemmas. It takes a lot to survive the treacherous souls occupying the West, after all. This series spares no details in showing how gruesome the late-1800s were, in fact. Suddenly joined together, Cornelia and Eli discover a shared history that they must defeat if either of them is to survive.

The stellar cast includes Rafe Spall ( The Salisbury Poisonings, Trying ) and Nichola McAuliffe ( Tomorrow Never Dies, Doctor Who ) in standout roles. Tom Hughes ( A Discovery of Witches, Victoria ), Stephen Rea ( The Shadow Line, The Honourable Woman ), Valerie Pachner ( A Hidden Life, The Kingsman ), Toby Jones ( Marvellous, Detectorists ), Ciaran Hinds ( The Terror, The Woman in Black ), Malcolm Storry ( The Princess Bride, Doc Martin ), Steve Wall ( Raised by Wolves, The Witcher ), Sule Rimi ( Black Earth Rising, Strike Back ), and Cristian Solimeno ( Avenue 5, Guilt ) are also on board.

When the series was being prepped for production, Blick noted: "The chance to make a Western with Emily Blunt and the cast is so delicious I’m still wondering if it’s one of those weird dreams we were all having during lockdown. If not, a thrilling, romantic, epic horse-opera is heading to your screen… and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Related: The Fabelmans Review: Steven Spielberg's Heartfelt Memoir of Family & Filmmaking

The Acting in The English

Blick has a good reason to be jazzed about Blunt ( A Quiet Place, Jungle Cruise, Mary Poppins Returns .) Always a joy to watch, the actress delivers a powerhouse performance as Cornelia, balancing the character’s vulnerability with her fierce determination to right a horrible wrong, even though she’s not fully equipped—at least in the beginning—to do so. An Emmy nod is in order for Blunt next year. The same can be said for Spencer ( Blindspot , Barkskins ), a rare on-screen presence—deep, grounded, often hypnotic. You don’t experience many actors like Spencer and together, he and Blunt give viewers two memorable characters worthy of our investment. What on-screen magic they create.

Cornelia arrives at a Kansas outpost circa 1890 carrying far too much—literally and figuratively. She’s got trunks galore and frothy gowns, and perhaps way too much cash for an English lady to be toting around out on the frontier. But avenge her son’s death she must. So onward she goes even though a gaggle of bad fellas have anticipated her arrival.

Eli, Pawnee-born and now a defunct U.S. Army calvary, is a lone wolf. Natives raise their eyebrows over his Calvary involvement. White folks discriminate based on his skin color. Eli’s wish? To grab a couple of acres somewhere safe.

But Cornelia and Eli’s futures are connected. And so are their pasts. “You and I have met,” Cornelia tells Eli. “It was in the stars.”

The first three episodes of The English do well in creating the vast landscape and wicked danger of the Western world. The cinematography here is wonderful eye-candy—the series was shot overseas so Spain fills in for the Wild West.

Mostly, viewers will be intrigued by some of the characters in this Western territory. Anybody that knows much about the period realizes that getting hanged or shot over a simple misunderstanding isn’t that far-fetched. More gruesome, perhaps, is the havoc white men inflicted, particularly on entire Native communities. Spall’s David Melmont comes to mind. His character is, literally, the heart of darkness. Still, it gives Spall plenty of scene-stealing opportunities and his bone-chilling performance in The English is one for the books.

McAuliffe’s Black Eyed Mog, a hardened frontier woman, appears less frequently, but she’s bound to give you the spooks. Collectively, Blick and the creative team have introduced a fascinating array of characters and the actors embodying them are pitch-perfect. But what about the actual story of The English ? Does it get the job done?

Related: Exclusive: Charlotte Nicdao, Jessie Ennis, and Ashley Burch on Season Three of Mythic Quest

Is The English Worth the Investment?

The short answer is: Yes. Episode 4 takes place 15 years before the events we’re initially introduced to in Episode 1, and it does a fine job of connecting the creative dots. This backstory helps us understand what’s really at stake for Cornelia. And Eli, for that matter. It also introduces an evil force that will be hard to reckon with.

Artistically and thematically, I couldn’t get enough of The English. I wanted more. In that respect, Blick did his job. Core themes of identity and revenge interweave themselves in a fascinating parable that also touches on race, power, and love. The middle episodes tend to droop just a bit. Like bullets ricocheting off wooden porches or barns, you wonder where things may land and there’s a fear—because the front half was so good—that the story may have lost its footing. Like roping cattle, though, Blick steers things back in the right direction. This comes to light during an investigation by the local sheriff Robert Marshall (played by Rea) and the young widow, Martha Myers (Valerie Pachner) into a series of bizarre and macabre unsolved murders. Here we realize the full extent of Cornelia and Eli's intertwined history. The passion found in the latter half of Episodes 5 and 6 are, by far, something of the best things we’ve experienced in a Western.

Much is at stake as Cornelia and Eli’s precarious, often violent, journey unravels, and in the hands of another writer, producer, and director—Blick is all three—I sense we’d experience a much choppier ride overall. There’s depth and tenderness, too, when we learn more about Cornelia’s emotional plight. Her bond with Eli is visceral as past traumas come to light. These truly are expectational characters.

The English is one of the most passionate Western tales to hit the screen. Blunt and Spencer are cinematic gold. The cast shines. The acting is powerful, effective, and, to a degree, a bit soul-stirring. Aside from its midway dip—easily forgivable—Blick’s big dive into Westerns is one hell of a—to coin his term—"horse opera."

The English hits Amazon Prime Video on November 11.

Movie and TV Reviews

UK Politics
News Videos
Paris 2024 Olympics
Rugby Union
Sport Videos
John Rentoul
Mary Dejevsky
Andrew Grice
Sean O’Grady
Photography
Theatre & Dance
Culture Videos
Fitness & Wellbeing
Food & Drink
Health & Families
Royal Family
Electric Vehicles
Car Insurance Deals
Lifestyle Videos
UK Hotel Reviews
News & Advice
Simon Calder
Australia & New Zealand
South America
C. America & Caribbean
Middle East
Politics Explained
News Analysis
Today’s Edition
Home & Garden
Broadband deals
Fashion & Beauty
Travel & Outdoors
Sports & Fitness
Sustainable Living
Climate Videos
Solar Panels
Behind The Headlines
On The Ground
Decomplicated
You Ask The Questions
Binge Watch
Travel Smart
Watch on your TV
Crosswords & Puzzles
Most Commented
Newsletters
Ask Me Anything
Virtual Events
Betting Sites
Online Casinos
Wine Offers

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

The English review: Pure, delicious, American cheese that, at its best, feels like a Coen brothers creation

Emily blunt and chaske spencer are a tough-as-nails twosome in this drama that overflows with affection for the history of the western, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

What right does the BBC have, making a lavish six-part western? The BBC – which is all about stuffy, bonneted period dramas and documentaries where a nonagenarian cavorts with chimpanzees – tackling the quintessence of American culture? And, to add to the impertinence, calling it The English ? Well, that’s the situation we arrive at with Hugo Blick’s BBC Two drama (co-produced with Amazon), which arrives on our screen with a thunder of hooves.

Emily Blunt is Cornelia Locke, an Englishwoman whose father owns “half of Devon”. She’s journeying through the heart of America on an unarticulated voyage of revenge. It’s there that she encounters Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), trussed up and beaten to a pulp. A Pawnee-born ex-US army officer, Whipp wants to claim a slide of American land, as is his veteran’s right. “Smoke dreams for the fireside,” dismisses a fellow soldier. Fate throws Eli and Cornelia together, a tough-as-nails twosome heading north with nothing but a few guns, knives, bows, arrows and their wits.

The picaresque nature of these adventures is aided by the fact that almost nobody survives long enough to make it to a second episode. This is from the Cormac McCarthy school of westerns: full of raping, hanging and scalping. Life is cheap here, and nearly everyone we encounter is living out their final day. “It cannot be that this whole country is only full of killers and thieves!” Cornelia exclaims, but the evidence is stacked up to the contrary. The only argument against that notion is the calm, composed presence of Whipp. In a land where people would put a bullet in your head for a hot meal, he’s saving women and children, without a flash of anger or crack of a smile.

Blunt is a terrific actor, and, as has been witnessed in films like Edge of Tomorrow and A Quiet Place , a confident action hero. Her voice has a lilting, almost Germanic, timbre; a sense of un-Englishness in this sea of colonisers. Conversely, Spencer’s Whipp is the only character to speak with a modern American accent. The taciturn sharpshooter is an overdone trope of the western, but he adds pleasingly to that canon. And the other characters who make it through multiple episodes – Stephen Rea’s Sheriff Marshall, Valerie Pachner’s Martha Myers and Tom Hughes’s Thomas Trafford – all bolster that feeling of prestige.

The English is beautiful. Panoramas show wagons trundling against the sunset and saloons springing up like tombstones from the dust. But it also has that near pastiche quality that exemplifies the early westerns, which were shot on ranches and soundstages in Los Angeles. The predominantly British cast and use of the Spanish deserts and sierras as a stand-in for the American West exacerbate this impression. “People cross oceans just to get to where we are now,” Katie Clarke (Kimberly Guerrero) tells Cornelia. “But they always come up a little short.” And The English comes up a little short of total immersion.

The Crown season five review: This Netflix show is the definition of first world problems

But perhaps that’s not the point. For all its starkness and brutality, The English is actually a deliciously corny love letter to its forebears. From the Eastwoodesque gruffness of Spencer’s Whipp to the way that Cornelia becomes an arse-kicking gunslinger, like Mattie Ross in True Grit, The English overflows with affection for the history of the western. And unlike recent additions to the genre, such as Hostiles or Bone Tomahawk – which replace the bloodless gun smoke of John Wayne with skull-cracking intensity – The English is kind of goofy. “I’m a Scorpio,” Cornelia informs Whipp, telling him how star signs are all the rage in London. “Mine’s about revenge – can’t help but think yours is too.” This is pure, delicious, American cheese.

At its best, The English feels like it could’ve been made by the Coen brothers . And for a Thursday night drama on BBC Two, that’s a huge compliment. “There are many who can welcome you to the real America,” announces Ciaran Hinds’s short-lived villain at the show’s opening, “but only one who can truly mean it.” Somehow, the BBC has managed to carve a slice of the real America into its schedule and – audacity of audacities – call it The English.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

What's the Tomatometer®?
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Prime Video
Most popular streaming movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

74% MaXXXine Link to MaXXXine
90% Kill Link to Kill
85% Remembering Gene Wilder Link to Remembering Gene Wilder

New TV Tonight

91% Sunny: Season 1
-- Vikings: Valhalla: Season 3
-- Sausage Party: Foodtopia: Season 1
-- The Serpent Queen: Season 2
-- Me: Season 1
-- The Bachelorette: Season 21
-- Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer: Season 1
-- Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken: Season 1
-- All American: Homecoming: Season 3

The English

Where to watch.

Watch The English with a subscription on Prime Video.

Cast & Crew

Emily Blunt

Cornelia Locke

Chaske Spencer

Stephen Rea

Sheriff Robert Marshall

Ciarán Hinds

Richard M Watts

David Melmont

Thomas Trafford

More Like This

Related tv news, series info.

Emily Blunt Goes Wild in ‘The English’

BBC and Amazon’s six-part series puts an English rose to the test in America’s Wild West

The English is about the English, but it’s also about the Russians. And Europeans. Anyone, in short, who has settled in America’s West, where BBC and Amazon’s sweeping six-part series is set. We learn all this in the opening voiceover from the first episode, and it’s a helpful signpost for how this show proceeds: one where you’re immersed in an unfamiliar habitat, and forced to pick up, and adjust to, local customs immediately. The English also refers to an Englishwoman, singular: Cornelia Locke, who has arrived in 1890s Wyoming with a bag full of cash and a thirst for revenge.

Emily Blunt plays Locke, an aristocrat whose soldier father was gifted “half of Devon”, who’s hoping to track down the man she believes is responsible for the death of her son. How, why and even where her son died is unclear. A Pawnee scout named Eli Whipp, played by Chaske Spencer, best known for his role in The Twilight Saga franchise (perhaps The English will edge that qualification out), crosses path with her and – inevitably, adorably, sometimes-bloodily – they become friends. Whipp is also on his own mission to reclaim land; a mission complicated by his contentious relationships with almost everyone he meets. Whipp soon teaches Locke how to handle a gun and her enemies, two skills the Englishwoman picks up fairly quickly.

It’s not always an easy show to watch. Heads are blown off, hearts are shot through with arrows. Locke first sees Whipp hanging outside a hotel, alive through the might of his tip toes. Directed and written by British filmmaker Hugo Blick, who created 2018’s Black Earth Rising starring Michaela Coel, he lingers on the mechanics of these confrontations, giving the scenes a dry, almost unbearable tension, appropriate for the scorched surroundings. The vast, quite beautiful landscape – the show was filmed in Spain – provides some respite, though you know danger is always around the corner.

Dialogue, sometimes pleasingly, sometimes eyeroll-inducingly, evokes phrases you might find on a fridge magnet: “The difference between what you need and what you want is what you can put on a horse,” intones Whipp. Thank God for Blunt, who punctures the gnomic atmosphere with some much-needed scepticism and just-there sarcasm. Whenever the stares become a little too long, the silences a little too heavy, Blunt wields her trademark tone – the kind you will recognise from talk show appearances and her turn as sardonic fashion assistant Emily in The Devil Wears Prada – and the show snaps to attention. It can be disconcerting, Blunt’s mannerisms sometimes seem too modern for this particular period, but once you embrace the rhythm, you’re away, off into the deep orange sunset.

It wouldn’t work without Spencer and Blunt's chemistry; their conversation is frequently heavy (they really like talking about death!) but also surprisingly playful (a back-and-forth about star signs recalls two millennials on a first date). A starry cast populates this landscape. Ciarán Hinds provides our first bitter taste of the West’s prejudices – a racist, misogynistic, dangerous man. Hinds makes for a convincing villain, even if his arc is a little underdeveloped. Tom Hughes brings a sinister volatility to proceedings.

Blunt has, over the last couple of decades, emerged as one of our best all-rounders, cutting her teeth on rom-coms, period dramas and more recently, on action films ( Sicario , The Edge of Tomorrow ) and horror-thrillers like The Quiet Place , which was popular enough to prompt a sequel. But as accomplished as she is, none of those latter roles really combined action chops with her wry sense of humour. Perhaps, in this entertaining, thoughtful Western, she has finally found that role.

‘The English’ airs on BBC Two in the UK (all episodes are available to watch on iPlayer) and on Amazon Prime Video in the US

Henry is a senior culture writer at Esquire, covering film, television, literature, music and art for the print magazine and website. He has previously written for the Guardian, The Telegraph and The Evening Standard. At Esquire, he explores entertainment in all forms, from long reads on Lost in Translation ’s legacy to trend stories about Taylor Swift, as well as writing regular reviews of movies and television shows. He has also written many profiles for Esquire, and interviewed the likes of George Clooney, Austin Butler and Mike Faist.

@media(max-width: 73.75rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.4375rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.5625rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}} Culture

Where Is All the Sad Boy Literature?

‘Gladiator 2’: Release, Cast, Trailer and Spoilers

Fabien Frankel Knows You’re Pissed at Ser Criston

The Real Roman History Behind 'Gladiator II'

‘Fly Me to the Moon’: Space, Lies, and Videotape

I Have Questions About Aegon in ‘HOTD’

Yes, Carmy Berzatto Is a Ralph Lauren Guy

set 200 years before the events of game of thrones, this epic series tells the story of house targaryen

House of the Dragon’s Eve Best on Episode Four

charles leclerc of monaco and ferrari interview

How Charles Leclerc Deals With the Pressure

Keir Starmer’s Waiting Game is Over

screen writer robert towne portrait session

Why I Write Movies

International edition
Australia edition
Europe edition

Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer in The English.

The English review – Emily Blunt’s sweeping western is a rare, sensational masterpiece

Hugo Blick’s revelatory series is a gorgeous, glorious new take on the old west – a lawless land where no one can hear you, or anyone in your way, scream

F irst and foremost – don’t let the moony opening of The English (“It was in the stars … And we believed in the stars, you and I”) put you off. It is completely unrepresentative of the six hours that follow and I want you to follow them.

The English ( BBC Two ), written and directed by Hugo Blick, is a revisionist western further revised. We are in 1890, the last days of settlement of the old west and our all-but-silent hero is Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), a Pawnee native and former scout for the US army cavalry – doubly displaced by the settlers’ theft of his homeland and what his people see as his betrayal of it. He is on his way to Nebraska to stake a claim to the acres he is owed for his army service, despite warnings that the white men in charge will never honour their debt.

Our heroine is Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), who arrives at a remote hostelry in Kansas from England, on the trail of the man she holds responsible for her son’s death. There she finds the manager, Mr Watts (Ciarán Hinds, in the most terrifying of all his terrifying modes), in the process of torturing Eli. She tries to buy his safety but is beaten for her trouble. It becomes clear that news of her vengeful intentions has gone before her and that Watts is under instructions to kill her. The murder will be pinned on Eli.

One semi-mutual rescue and at least four bloody deaths later, their fates – along with his quest and her revenge narrative – have become firmly intertwined. As they cross the plains in search of their different ideas of peace, the relationship between these two lost and harrowed souls becomes deeper and more tender in a way that avoids and transcends mere romance. By the end it is infused with yearning, that rare and vanishing sensation in a world where nothing is forbidden any longer, which helps give the series the edge of grandeur the genre always seeks.

The plot surrounding the emotional core is convoluted. I have faith that were I to map all its parts it would make perfect sense but I would genuinely need to sit down with a paper and pencil, and possibly a cartographer, to do so.

But it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that along the way we meet a plethora of picaresque characters (special mention to Nichola McAuliffe as the murderous Black Eyed Mog) who evoke the pitilessness of the old west and illustrate Blick’s consideration of how many of us would remain sane, and morally sound, in a lawless land where – for hundreds of miles at a time – no one could hear you, or anyone who got in your way, scream.

What matters is that the dehumanisation and massacres of the Native Americans, upon whose suffering the New World was built, is not forgotten but ever present, in Eli’s story, in the charred remains of encampments, in the cruelty of old soldiers they meet, in the stories of the people they seek shelter with. It’s not the wholesale corrective some will want, but you could say the frontier is being moved.

What matters is that although you might lose track of the details, the plot never becomes impenetrable or the performances less than compelling. Spencer, best known for playing the werewolf Sam Uley in the Twilight movies, is a revelation – strong and silent, but also seething with frustration, intelligence, grief and the rage of a good man forced into terrible compromises. Blunt is at her best yet, giving us a woman made brave and undauntable by resolve, powered by a secret whose late reveal ties much of what was beginning to feel like sprawl back tightly together again.

And then there’s Rafe Spall as David Melmont, with a performance just this side of demented, and quite perfect as a truly diabolic villain – the kind who can reach across the open plains to master the lesser fiends, the willing weak and the good men with no choice and cast the net around an approaching nemesis and bring her down.

Blick’s script is as spare and gorgeous as the landscape. If he could have spent some of the time afforded the plot machinations on interrogating more intensively the myths of the Old West, the colonial impulse, the difference between retribution and justice and the other questions his western raises, the ambition that is everywhere in it would have been even more gloriously realised. But it remains a sweepingly wonderful thing.

The English is screening on BBC Two in the UK and streaming on Amazon Prime Video in Australia.

Emily Blunt

Comments (…)

'The English' on Prime Video: The Ending Explained and Your Questions Answered

The Prime Video Western is a triumph, but a few parts of its narrative aren't explained in detail. Let's discuss in full-on spoiler territory.

Best New Journalist 2019 Australian IT Journalism Awards

Close up of Emily Blunt as Cornelia Locke, wearing a pink dress out in the desert

Emily Blunt plays Lady Cornelia Locke.

Just finished The English on Prime Video ? Amazon's Western brought home its moving story of Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), a mother running the gauntlet to enact revenge on the man who caused her son's death. It also turned out to be a great love story with ex-Pawnee Scout Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), set in the most highly saturated desert landscape imaginable.

Amid the sweeping romantic music and gorgeous cinematography, some of the harder details about what rival businessmen David Melmont (Rafe Spall) and Thomas Trafford (Tom Hughes) were up to might have been lost across the show's two timelines. Let's clear up our understanding of everything that happened in the stunning action-packed, tension-laden limited series.

Spoilers ahead and a content warning: sexual violence, suicide

Who killed Lady Cornelia Locke's son?

It's clear from the outset that Cornelia, a fancily dressed Englishwoman with bags of money, has traveled to Kansas in 1890 on a revenge mission over her son's killer. We don't discover the actual identity of the man until midway through the series, when we meet the gnarly, immoral and lower class David Melmont, a business companion of Thomas Trafford, Cornelia's lover in England who had proposed to marry her.

What were Melmont and Trafford doing in Wyoming?

In 1875, 15 years before Cornelia arrives in Kansas, Trafford and his men land in Chalk River, Wyoming, with hopes of starting a cattle rearing business. In the Wild West, where just about anything goes, the party begins to turn against itself as Melmont acts out against his class superior. Melmont finds himself more at home among a cruel, independent splinter group of the American army: Corporal Jerome McClintock and cousins Billy Myers and Timothy Flynn. The group is going rogue in its search for Running Hawk, a prominent fighter from the Cheyenne Native American tribe, who had killed and mutilated Myers' brother Lonnie for trespassing on their lands.

What happened at the Massacre at Chalk River?

Against Trafford's wishes, Melmont informs the army of the whereabouts of the Cheyenne settlement and joins them in slaughtering all the men, women and children in what becomes known as the Massacre at Chalk River. Days later, the four men are arrested over engaging prostitutes at a brothel, a serious crime at the time. Yet Melmont and McClintock escape and travel to England. There, Melmont attempts to scam Cornelia into giving him money by claiming it was Trafford who had committed the heinous crimes and a huge bounty had been issued in exchange for his life.

Rafe Spall as David Melmont, holding a gun out in the Wild West

David Melmont (Rafe Spall) commits many atrocities.

How did Melmont kill Cornelia's son?

Cornelia's doubts about Melmont's claims are confirmed in a letter from Trafford that reveals it was Melmont who was behind the abhorrent acts in America. When Melmont visits Cornelia's house again, she confronts him with the truth. Undeterred, Melmont rapes Cornelia and steals her money before returning to America with McClintock.

Cornelia's horror is compounded by several components: Trafford's letter also informs her that he's decided to stay in America, bringing their relationship to an end. At the brothel in America, Melmont and the army group contracted syphilis from a worker named Stella Shriver, who later became part of a "human freaks and oddities" business after the infection ravaged her appearance.

Melmont's act of sexual violence not only infects Cornelia with syphilis, but leaves her pregnant. Tragically, the sexually transmitted infection passes onto their son. In the picture Cornelia keeps of him in the locket around her neck, we see the boy's appearance shows signs of "erosion of the soft tissues and bone, particularly of the face," Cornelia says in episode 6. The other phase 4 effects of syphilis she describes are "blindness, deafness, heart defects, stroke, mental insanity, finally death." Cornelia raised her boy with unconditional love until he died at 14.

The events in Chalk River led to Melmont infecting his biological son with deadly syphilis. In a nutshell, Melmont's cold-blooded actions resulted in Cornelia's son's death. After many years, this led to Cornelia's rage-filled mission to confront Melmont with his crimes against her and her boy.

Tom Hughes as Thomas Trafford riding a horse out in the Wild West

Thomas Trafford (Tom Hughes) travels to America to start a cattle rearing business.

What happened to Thomas Trafford?

In the past timeline, we see the difficulties Cornelia's lover goes through to set up a cattle breeding farm over the 15 years he spends in Wyoming. Companion Melmont abandoned Trafford and ended up striking gold in Colorado, using his business savvy to create a successful trading business. He built a new town called Hoxom on the very same land the Massacre at Chalk River took place. His success not enough, Melmont still sought to bring Trafford to failure and arranged the slaughters of his cows and calves.

After the massacre, army men Billy Myers and Timothy Flynn asked Trafford if they could join his cattle breeding outfit. Despising them and their crimes, Trafford refused and marked the men with his branding iron. Melmont later bought Myers and Flynn plots of land, and the pair formed a rival cattle rearing business to Trafford.

When Trafford tries to enlist the assistance of local Sheriff Robert Marshall in protecting his cattle from Melmont, Marshall becomes distracted by the deaths of Myers, Flynn and Flynn's wife. Like Melmont, Myers and Flynn also contracted syphilis. Fearing the effects of the infection, Myers hanged himself. Flynn shot his wife, who also exhibited marks of the infection, before turning the gun on himself.

Despite successfully opening a cattle rearing business in Caine County, near Chalk River, Trafford believes the land to bring bad luck. In episode 6, during the 1890 timeline, Trafford's manager, Clay Jackson, reports to Cornelia, Eli and the sheriff that Trafford drowned in a flash flood. The party attempted to save Trafford by throwing him a rope, but presumably realizing his herd and life's work was about to be destroyed, Trafford cut himself free and allowed himself to drown. Jackson says that this is what Trafford wants, to become a part of the place he opened.

Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer as Cornelia and Eli hugging out in the Wild West

In a bittersweet ending, Eli and Cornelia must part ways.

Why can't Eli and Cornelia be together?

Despite forming a close bond and sharing a kiss, Cornelia's infection prevents her from becoming too close to Eli. Eli must also go into hiding after fully taking the blame for Melmont's death, protecting Cornelia and Martha Myers. The sheriff releases Eli, who will surely be killed by the Hoxom townspeople if he becomes known as Melmont's murderer, on the condition he leaves and never returns. In departing, Eli might one day return home to Nebraska, where he was born, and reclaim "just a few acres" of land the government took from his Pawnee tribe. Thanks to the "Homestead Act," there's a chance the government will give Eli the land for his services to the army. Before he rides off, Cornelia gives Eli a phial of "the best" wheat seed, which he can potentially grow on his reclaimed land once he's safely out of hiding. Cornelia, meanwhile, must return to England and see out her next journey.

What happens to Cornelia and the boy White Moon?

Cornelia inadvertently ends up saving a young boy named White Moon from bandit Black-Eyed Mog's camp. Eli recognizes the boy as the son of Running Hawk; in the opening scene of the show, on his last day in the American army, Eli witnessed soldiers kill Running Hawk, but didn't stop them. He did however play some part in preventing the army from shooting Running Hawk's wife and son, although the pair still feel betrayed by Eli, even though they originate from different tribes. When Eli takes Cornelia to a doctor, Cornelia convinces the doctor to take care of White Moon, handing over the last of her money. He accepts her money as backing into a new venture, "Flathead Jackson's Wild West Show: True Tales of America! Beyond the realistic."

In 1903, 13 years after her journey in America and Melmont's death, Cornelia is exhibiting the phase 4 effects of syphilis on her face, a "shame" she hides beneath a black veil. Before her imminent death, she visits the doctor's Wild West show when it travels to Berkshire, England. She meets with an older White Moon, who remembers her and knows that her "shame" isn't hers, but Melmont's. White Moon appreciates seeing the world and making a living in the "circus" by telling more authentic stories of Native Americans. He keeps the memories of Cornelia's beloved Eli alive by playing Major North and First Sergeant Eli Whipp who saved a "white woman."

New Movies Coming in 2023 From Marvel, Netflix, DC and More

Action/Adventure
Children's/Family
Documentary/Reality
Amazon Prime Video

More From Decider

Netflix Basic Plan Discontinued: Is Netflix Getting Rid Of Its Cheapest...

Michael Strahan Returns To 'Good Morning America' After Two Weeks Off The...

'The Bachelorette' Jenn Tran Calls Out Kelly Ripa For Insisting She Can...

'The Bear' Season 3 Review: Carmy Secures His Role as The Chairman of The...

R.I.P. Martin Mull: 'Clue' & 'Roseanne' Star Dead at 80

Every Kevin Costner Movie Is A Western (Even When They're Not)

Nicole Kidman Tore Zac Efron’s Shirt Off in One Take, Says ‘A Family...

Is Kevin Costner Dooming Himself To Be The Captain Ahab of Westerns With...

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The English’ On Prime Video, Where Emily Blunt Plays A Woman In The Wild West Looking For Revenge

Where to stream:.

The English
Emily Blunt

'The Devil Wears Prada' Sequel is Happening: Here's What We Know

How 'the stunt man' and 'hooper' set the standard for 'the fall guy' (the tv show and the movie), new movies on streaming: 'civil war,' 'the fall guy,' + more, dwayne johnson is unrecognizable as mma fighter mark kerr in a24 biopic 'the smashing machine'.

Has a Western ever been told from the perspective of someone visiting it from aristocratic Europe? Probably, but not often enough to remember. Which is why the conceit behind The English , created by Hugo Blick, is so intriguing. It helps that the star is the ever-appealing Emily Blunt.

THE ENGLISH : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As a woman looks at the sunrise, she says in voice over, “Without you, I’d have been killed right from the start. That’s how we met. That’s why we met.”

The Gist: After scenes that show pictures of an aristocratic Englishwoman posing with a Pawnee native, among other views, we flash back to 1890, “Thirteen Years Before.”

As we see some soldiers shot a Pawnee native as a way to get revenge for one of their own being killed years earlier, Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), a cavalry scout who happens to be Pawnee, comes on the scene and cools down tensions. While the natives there think he’s a traitor for being in the army, it seems that the other soldiers revere him. He tells one of them that, now that he’s retiring from the army, he’s going to use the Homestead Act to find himself a plot of land.

A few days later, Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), a British aristocrat, stops at a ramshackle hotel in the middle of nowhere on the Western frontier. The proprietor, Richard M. Watts (Ciarán Hinds), greets her and explains to her that the native that’s been roped up near the livestock got there because he politely came into the hotel for a drink. Eli is that native, and it doesn’t matter if he was a soldier or not; without his uniform on, he’s now one of “them”.

She offers Watts money to cut Eli down, clean him up and send him on his way. He does send him out with stagecoach driver Sebold Cusk (Toby Jones), and Eli’s abilities come in handy when the coach is intercepted by three men intent on robbing it, but Cusk ends up getting shot, leading Eli to take the horses and ride them back to the hotel in order to get some payback.

Cornelia is in this backwater because she wants to track down and kill the man who she feels is responsible for the death of her son. She finds out pretty quickly that Watts has been contracted by that man to kill her. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Watts isn’t going to draw things out and enjoy himself first. Eli intervenes, though, and gets that payback he wanted, and also gets the bag with the medicine he needs for him and his family.

That night, after dispatching Watts’ henchmen, Cornelia literally begs Eli to help her get to the county where she can get revenge on the man she’s looking for. He finally agrees, but promises her that the journey is going to be a bloody one, and she needs to be ready for it.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The English reminds us of the Yellowstone prequel 1883 , as well as Walker: Independence , just told from a different perspective.

Our Take: The perspective we talk about above is twofold. The main perspective is Cornelia’s; coming from aristocratic England to the American West in those frontier days must be a shock to the system for her. And Hugo Blick, who wrote and directed The English , certainly has a British point of view himself. The way he is looking at that era is from the perspective of someone who can’t believe the lawlessness that pervades the region, and the idea that you’ll have to kill people in order to survive.

It’s definitely an interesting viewpoint, albeit one that plays out very slowly in the first episode. There’s a reason why Cornelia, who believes that the fact that she and Eli met and survived the dire situation they were in was magic or at the very least fate, wants him as her guide. He’s seen things, as he explains: “I’ve seen villages razed and razed them myself: Men, women and children, shot, stick, cut, hung. I’ve seen Hell and I’ve made Hell.” He knows that there will be a reckoning for it, but the willingness to be both hero and villain is the only way he was able to survive.

That’s the other perspective at play in The English , and perhaps the one that’s more fascinating. Eli is a native who joined the army, the very entity that has been killing and displacing his tribe and others over most of his life. He says a Baptist gave him the white name “Eli Whipp” because he was good with a rope. He’s seen what white settlers have done to decimate tribes all over the west. But he also has the rare loyalty of his fellow soldiers. It’s a viewpoint that’s quite unique, and one we hope Blick explores more in depth as the season goes on.

As we mentioned, Blick’s direction definitely lets dialogue and scenery breathe; there are long pauses between statements, and he even languishes on the act of Watts eating and serving Cornelia “prairie oysters”, which are most assuredly testicles. It allows the viewer to get great looks at the dusty landscape of the American West, but we do hope the story moves along at a bit of a faster pace as the season progresses.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.

Parting Shot: We see the silhouettes of Eli and Cornelia on their horses as they set out north at sunrise.

Sleeper Star: Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones make a big impact in the first episode, even though they’re just guest stars. They show what both Cornelia and Eli are up against as they make their journey.

Most Pilot-y Line: When the bandits show up at the stagecoach, Sebold gives Eli his shotgun. When Eli asks him how many rounds it has, Sebold replies, “Ten, I spent two on a jack rabbit.” “Then you missed,” Eli replied.

Will you stream or skip the unique western #TheEnglish on @PrimeVideo ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) November 13, 2022

Our Call: STREAM IT. Despite the languid pace of the first episode, the unique perspectives at play in The English make it different enough from your standard Western to make it interesting.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

Prime Video
Stream It Or Skip It

Michael Strahan Returns To 'Good Morning America' After Two Weeks Off The Air — Where He Was And Why He Was Away

When Will 'Power Book II: Ghost' Season 4, Episode 6 Premiere on Starz?

Netflix Basic Plan Discontinued: Is Netflix Getting Rid Of Its Cheapest Tier?

Michael Douglas Stuns 'The View' By Revealing Catherine Zeta-Jones' Demand When She Beats Him In Golf: "Whip It Out"

'WWHL': 'Below Deck Med's Joe Bradley Seemingly Hints That 'Southern Hospitality's Joe Bradley Is Dating Co-Star Maddi Reese

I Found The Chicago Tribune's Restaurant Review of "The Bear," The Windy City's Hottest New Eatery

‘The English’ wants to critique the blood-soaked Old West. Instead, it revels in it

An aristocratic woman in a pink coat and white hat on the prairie

Copy Link URL Copied!

The newly created state of Wyoming and sprawling Oklahoma territory are shockingly beautiful and brutal places in “The English,” Amazon Prime Video’s six-part drama set in 1890s America. Violence and wanton cruelty are as commonplace as shimmering fields of buffalo grass among the land-grubbing settlers, nefarious opportunists and Indigenous loners who populate the region.

Somewhere in all that carnage is the potentially compelling story of an odd couple whose paths meet despite their disparate backgrounds. He’s a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout headed for a land claim in Nebraska, where he hopes to settle down and give up fighting. She’s a bereaved English aristocrat who’s left her pampered life behind to avenge her son’s death. Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) and Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt) soon discover a shared history that binds them through the many twists and turns ahead.

This revisionist western, written and directed by Englishman Hugo Blick ( “Black Earth Rising,” “The Honourable Woman” ) and co-produced by Blunt, has much to offer in the way of commentary on the final days of settlement in the Old West, the displacement of the Native population and the role greed played in formation of America. But the series’ obsession with man’s worst instincts requires one swim through rivers of blood and wooden dialogue to get there.

New York, NY - October 20th, 2022: Christine Baranski posing for a portrait at Cafe Carlyle. (Vincent Tullo / For The Times)

How Christine Baranski remade herself, in her 60s, into a TV heroine: ‘It was a long wait’

As the series ends, ‘The Good Fight’ star opens up about going from No. 2 to No. 1 on the call sheet and the family wounds she confronted through acting.

Nov. 10, 2022

The splendor of the landscape — craggy cliffs, endless skies, picturesque vistas — is more like a “Westworld” hellscape when it’s littered with cutthroat soldiers, depraved bushwhackers and desperate, homicidal land seekers. White folks’ wholesale hatred of the Native population — who in turn call the interlopers “the English” — is so prevalent that it’s part of the ghoulish scenery. Expect trophy scalps, rotting bodies dangling from trees and the mention of purses made from women’s genitals.

If “The English” had spent less time reveling in wicked behavior and more time developing the story of Eli and Cornelia, it might have forged a narrative strong enough to justify sitting through the butchery. But although there’s plenty of lengthy dialogues between the two, the writing is stilted much of the time. “It was in the stars,” says Cornelia in the series’ opening narration. “And we believed in the stars, you and I.” Eli’s the stoic half of the duo, so he gets lines like: “I’ve seen hell and I made hell.”

The complete guide to home viewing

Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

What fascinating characters “The English” has at the margins quickly cycle in and out of the miniseries — bad men and women whose motivations and backgrounds remain un- or underexplored. And as the series progresses, it grows ever harder to discern an event’s importance. How could you know when you can’t place the folks who are supposed to make it relevant?

“The English” is populated with an impressive cast, particularly boldfaced names of Great Britain and Ireland like Blunt, Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones and Stephen Rea. Unfortunately their talent is not enough to save this miniseries from its overwhelming obsession with the myths that make the Old West a violent playground for the imagination.

‘The English’

Where: Amazon Prime When: Any time Rating: 16+ (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 16)

D.W. Griffith stoked racism with ‘Birth of a Nation.’ A playwright imagines what happened next

July 3, 2024

Review: ‘Horizon,’ Costner’s western, is drab, overindulged tedium. Ready for 7 more hours of it?

June 27, 2024

ONE TIME USED ONLY FOR ENVELOPE - PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: (EDITORS NOTE: This image has been converted to black and white. No color version available.) Cosmo Jarvis of FX's 'Shōgun' poses for a portrait during the 2024 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on February 09, 2024 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Robby Klein/Contour by Getty Images)

Love the animated swearing from ‘Shōgun’s’ Englishman? Cosmo Jarvis improvised it

June 13, 2024

Lorraine Ali is news and culture critic of the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she was television critic for The Times covering media, breaking news and the onslaught of content across streaming, cable and network TV. Ali is an award-winning journalist and Los Angeles native who has written in publications ranging from the New York Times to Rolling Stone and GQ. She was formerly senior writer for The Times’ Calendar section where she covered entertainment, culture, and American Arab and Muslim issues. Ali started at The Times in 2011 as music editor after leaving her post as a senior writer and music critic at Newsweek Magazine.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Edward Norton as Sammy Bagel Jr., Seth Rogen as Frank, Kristen Wiig as Brenda Bunson and Michael Cera as Barry.

Review: Adult cartoons ‘Sausage Party’ and ‘Exploding Kittens,’ one charming, one (purposely) not

July 11, 2024

Vanna White in a red gown and Pat Sajak in a suit gesturing on the set of 'Celebrity Wheel of Fortune'

Pat Sajak will come out of short-lived retirement for ‘Celebrity Wheel of Fortune’

‘ALF’ star Benji Gregory dies at 46 amid Arizona heat wave

John Mulaney in a tuxedo holding hands and posing with Olivia Munn in a strapless white gown with a peplum at the Oscars

Entertainment & Arts

John Mulaney and Olivia Munn are married, three years of dating and a toddler later

July 10, 2024

‘The English’ Loses a Compelling Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer Two-Hander in Convoluted Web of Grievances: TV Review

Amazon Prime Video's new Western drama has plenty going for it, but ultimately loses its most interesting plot in too many others.

By Caroline Framke

Caroline Framke

Chief TV Critic

How Streaming TV Turned the Premier League Into a Great American Pastime 2 years ago
FIFA, Qatar and Cowardly Hypocrisy Has Sucked the Joy Out of Watching the World Cup 2 years ago
‘Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin’ Is a Spinoff Without A Purpose: TV Review 2 years ago

Popular on Variety

And so for as much promise as “The English” has, and the consistently beautiful — if strangely pristine, given the brutality constantly at hand — Western landscapes bookending every scene, “frustrating” ends up the word most fitting to describe the series at large. Typically, I’m not one to recommend that a show drag its narratives out any more than necessary, but in this case, the overlapping stories end up too ambitious for the time Blick has to tell them. Sometimes, all you really need to tell a good story are the basics. With only six episodes to unpack everything, “The English” would have been better off significantly narrowing its focus to its greatest strengths: Blunt, Spencer and the unusual ties binding their characters’ quests for justice together.

“The English” premieres Friday, Nov. 11 on Amazon Prime Video.

More from Variety

Alec baldwin gets his day in court: trial begins in fatal set shooting, car buyers want more screens as in-vehicle entertainment rises, alec baldwin’s lawyers argue destruction of gun warrants dismissal, alec baldwin trial: jury chosen in manslaughter case, ame institute to host “state of the creative industries” panel, sponsored by variety vip+, alec baldwin broke ‘cardinal rules’ of gun safety while playing ‘make believe,’ prosecutor says, more from our brands, shania twain, karol g, chris stapleton to duet with andrea bocelli on new ‘duets’ album, red bull’s first hypercar is a track-only 1,200 horsepower beast, unitedhealth adds to charlie baker’s antitrust avalanche, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, presumed innocent renewed for season 2 at apple tv+ — but there’s a twist.

The Ending Of The English Explained

Hugo Blick , the writer and director of the new BBC Two and Amazon Western limited series "The English," has made a name for himself writing political thrillers and international crime dramas. His experience crafting clever twists and surprising mysteries is on full display in "The English" as well, where every one of the six episodes revealed new secrets about the main characters.

"The English" bends genre in many ways. Is it a thriller? A Western? A revenge flick? A serious drama about grief and confronting the past? Honestly, it's all of the above — a series that masterfully exposes unexpected secrets in each chapter. These reveals feel organic, as if the camera has slowly panned back to allow the audience to see the complete picture suddenly. Is it perfect? No, some of the dialogue feels a bit overly sentimental, and we have thoughts about that ending. But is it the best mystery drama of 2022? Possibly, and the critics agree .

The story follows Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), a wealthy Englishwoman traveling through the American West during the 1890s, where she meets a Pawnee scout named Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) who's recently left the U.S. army. The unlikely pair travel through a bleak, surrealist Western landscape, encountering characters who often feel as if they belong in a horror anthology. Indeed, at times, "The English" portrays the American West as a gruesome house of horrors that our main characters must survive. With so many twists and turns in the series, there's plenty to unpack in its ending.

The complicated story of Eli Whipp

The hero of "The English" is Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), a Pawnee scout formerly of the U.S. Army , and a man of many contradictions. He lost everything — his family, his tribe, and his home — all due to the relentless evil of Manifest Destiny . However, he still joins up with the U.S. Army, though it's never clear whether he's conscripted or a volunteer. Even when Cornelia questions him, he gives a cryptic answer. Once a scout, Eli becomes a part of the machine that destroyed his own people. For those on the frontier, Eli Whipp is a war hero, a soldier of great reputation who even commands his fellow white officers at times.

Now that he's left the great overwhelming force that is the military, he grapples with his demoted place on the frontier and the consequences of choosing to aid the Army in its campaigns. On more than one occasion, Eli removes himself from the responsibility of a situation, claiming it's "Not my business." In a conversation with John Clarke (Gary Farmer), Eli accuses him of being nothing more than a parasite, "Sucking 'til you pop." Clarke retorts, "Says a man who got his coin from the U.S. army."

In the end, though, Eli admits his guilt in the massacre at Chalk River, acknowledging he was there and did nothing to stop it. Almost as an act of contrition, he stabs Melmont (Rafe Spell) and tells Sheriff Marshall (Stephen Rea) to arrest him, taking on full responsibility for his death.

The hidden depths of Cornelia Locke

In "The English," Emily Blunt stars as Cornelia Locke, an Englishwoman who comes to America looking for revenge on the man she feels is responsible for her son's death. But her mission is so much more than that. Cornelia is a surprising mix of shaky vulnerability (hiding her face at death scenes) and raging violence (that scene with Black Eyed Mog comes to mind).

She's the one who stabs Katie Clark (Kimberly Guerrero) and threatens John Clarke when he betrays Eli. While she demands John give her Eli's location, the camera pans up from her to where she sits with a rifle across her knees — a classic Western image. Cornelia has become the anti-hero gunslinger of the West. And yet, she claims that "It's magic" that led her and Eli together, that it "was written in the stars." The revelation that she has syphilis, and that her son suffered with it his whole short life, is shocking.

Despite all this, Cornelia deserved a better ending. The love she and Eli feel for each other is tragic and beautiful — a Romeo and Juliet kind of affair. So why couldn't Cornelia run away with him in the end? Why, instead, does she move back to England — a place that never felt like home for her — to live a life of loneliness and isolation? Sadly, Cornelia's ending does the character a disservice. She's proud, fierce, and surprisingly optimistic, and her dispirited, quiet ending just doesn't feel like enough.

An evil good guy

Thomas Trafford (Tom Hughes) is an Englishman living in America and working a cattle ranch in Wyoming. At the beginning of "The English," we learn that someone has been terrorizing Trafford's livestock by gruesomely killing off pregnant cows. However, he feels he deserves this for his role in the Chalk River massacre, although he did try to prevent it as much as he could. He dies at the end by his own hand, cutting the rope his cowboys throw him when he's caught in a flood.

Unfortunately, Trafford is the one character in "The English" whose arc doesn't feel as complete as the rest. He starts out a proper villain with the violent punishment of a nightwatchman (in cricket whites, no less). Yet, his is such a startling transformation, from wealthy "Bond" villain to guilt-ridden gentle soul, that it feels as if Blick were trying to play a trick on his audience. We're presented with an obvious bad guy whose character then completely changes. Make no mistake, the reveal that Melmont is the series' true villain is brilliant. However, Trafford's arc could definitely have been executed a bit more smoothly.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by callin g 1 -800-273-TALK (8255).

A character no one saw coming

One of the great joys of watching "The English" is how side characters who don't seem relevant to the overall story suddenly explode on screen, threatening to dominate the narrative. Martha Myers (Valerie Pachner) is a perfect example of this.

This independent, stern-seeming woman lives on the frontier with her son Jed (Walt Klink) and the clearly useless Billy Myers. We learn that she's an excellent rider, that Trafford has rustled a few of her cattle, and that her story mirrors Cornelia's, except for two glaring differences: She doesn't have syphilis, and she has no money. As an unwed pregnant woman (Melmont assaulted her as well as Cornelia), she had no options and was traded to Myers by her father. Her life has clearly been one of hardship and pain.

When Jed learns what his biological father did to his mother, the angry teenager races to confront Melmont, rushing at him with a broken saber. To save Jed and get vengeance for what Melmont did to her, Cornelia pulls a gun on him, but she can't pull the trigger. Martha, however, has no such reservations and promptly blows a hole in his chest with her rifle, claiming vengeance for them both.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

A terrifying villain

The horrifying and disgusting villain of "The English" is David Melmont, another character who comes out of left field to blow apart the audience's preconceptions of who the bad guy really is. Rafe Spall is brilliant in the role, delivering an insidious and deranged performance that's sure to stick with you long after the show ends.

This racist, misogynistic character is a bloodthirsty maniac and rapist who rips through Wyoming (and London) with threatening malice. Naturally, he becomes a wealthy businessman, building stores throughout the area. And of course, he dies at the end because "The English" is fiction, and bad guys are killed by the hero for the purposes of closure.

At the end of the series, clips play of the first Western film ever shot and acknowledgments are made of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show — all real things. A picture also flashes up of a modern supermarket called "Melmont's: Home of the homemaker." However, there is no store called Melmont's (we looked). Why include this fictional store with all these historically accurate facts? Perhaps as a nod to all the actual businesses in the world today built on exploitive practices.

The English definitely wants revenge

It's clear from the first five minutes of "The English" that revenge is one of the show's main themes. When we meet Eli, he's just wrapped up his military service after witnessing (and possibly participating in) a revenge-killing of a Native American man called Killing Hawk. According to the soldiers who kill him, this is justice for their friend Lonnie, who they say Killing Hawk murdered years before. However, by the end of "The English," it's evident that this revenge trek is unwarranted.

Cornelia comes to America similarly bent on revenge. She's tracked down Melmont to Wyoming, desperate to kill the man responsible for her son's death before she dies. Are these two types of revenge different? Is one a moral act of justice and the other just a horrific murder? For better or worse, this thread of violent revenge isn't fully developed or resolved in "The English." It's largely left up to the audience to draw the lines between righteousness and senseless violence, but some characters feel particularly worthy of retribution.

Cornelia Locke's guiding force is motherhood

When Cornelia and Eli come upon a Mennonite wagon where the parents of an infant and a little girl have been killed, the two do everything they can to save the children. Both Eli and Cornelia are grieving parents. Cornelia holds the baby but seems uncomfortable and tries to hand the child back to Eli, who looks up at her confused. "You don't want it?" he asks, sparking a conversation between the pair where Cornelia reveals that she's been a mother, that she is still a mother, but that she can't be a mother again. Obviously, this is related to her syphilis diagnosis, as we discover later.

But Cornelia is a mother through and through. She sets off on her own to take the children back to their Mennonite relatives, risking her own safety to do so. Then she rescues White Moon (Forrest Goodluck), who she dubs "No Trouble" because that's what he is. During the showdown between Melmont, Eli, and Cornelia, she tells Melmont that she loved their son "because he breathed. Because I was his mother."

It's also worth pointing out that the ending of "The English" is resolved by two raging mothers desperate to protect and avenge their children. Indeed, in the Myers' cabin, when the two women realize they have a shared history, there's a fantastic moment of connection between them. And, of course, Touching Ground (Tonantzin Carmelo) gives her life to protect her son White Moon, another example of, as Flathead Jackson puts it, "a mother's love."

The English attempts to grapple with colonialism

The Western , as a genre, is tricky. For many movie-goers, it embodies a mythic place in the American cinema canon, representing classic Hollywood films and encapsulating the idea of the frontier that drove so much of American history. It's also a genre that's exploited the dark genocidal past of America and instigated many problematic portrayals of Native Americans . "The English" can't solve that, but it does reckon with it a little.

Colonialism and the theft of American lands from indigenous tribes are central to "The English." When Eli and Cornelia go to a nearby fort looking for White Moon, they discover that his mother, Touching Ground, has been forced into a school for Native Americans designed to convert them to Christianity, teach them English, and force them into servitude. According to the racist Major MacKay (Stuart Milligan), this is the "American Dream." He justifies his actions by turning to Cornelia and accusing her, the English, of doing the same thing to the Irish and the Scots.

Creator Hugo Blick told Televisual that the limited series "couldn't star a Native American playing a Native American if it didn't engage, to some degree, with the genre's historical relationship to race." To bring respectful authenticity to the project, all of the scripts for "The English" were sent to IllumiNative , self-described as "a Native woman-led racial and social justice organization," to ensure that the representation of Native Americans throughout "The English" was accurate and appropriate.

How does Spenser feel about his role?

Chaske Spencer is a revelation as Eli Whipp, delivering a staggering performance that's easily deserving of an Emmy. In the role, Spencer is a classic, taciturn anti-hero. Grief and loss are bound up in his backstory, and despite his claims that he seeks neither pity nor vengeance for what happened to him, there are flashes of anger that spill out. In an interview with Bonnie Laufer , writer and director Hugo Blick revealed that he wanted to make Eli's dialogue as sparse as possible to focus on Spencer's non-verbal performance, allowing him to become "the archetype of the cinematic hero."

For Spencer, playing Eli as a veteran was key since he's seen as a "war hero" by many of the characters in the show. In the same interview with Bonnie Laufer, he talked about preparing for the role by spending time with Vietnam and Iraq war veterans, trying to get a feel for their experiences. Spencer's angle on the character was as "an ex-Vietnam vet biker," the actor told Newsweek . "That's who he is, that's who that guy is, and even though he's from the 1800s, you can still modernize that, and it helped me out a lot."

Spencer had strong opinions about portraying a Native American character, telling Newsweek that "I don't represent all Native America, I'm just an actor [and] they're my experiences, I find that, you know, each Native American has their own different experience and I find that I have my own unique experience. I put that into Eli because I feel like I share with him, the character, being an outsider."

Emily Blunt really connected with her character

When the time came for casting "The English," Hugo Blick knew exactly who he wanted for Cornelia -– Emily Blunt . In fact, Blick wrote the part with Blunt in mind (per Televisual ). Luckily, Blunt joined the project right after reading the original script Blick had created. She loved the script so much that the project became her first credit as a producer. "I adore the development of stuff, Blunt told Entertainment Weekly . "I love post-production. I love all of it. I just haven't really asked for the role before." Blunt also told EW that Cornelia felt like a part of her, relevant today despite the character's antiquated setting. "I approached her in quite a modern way," she said. "She just happened to be in a corset or wear a bonnet for some of it."

Because of the long production process (both actors already had their scripts before COVID-19 hit), Blunt and Chaske Spencer became friends — going out to dinner, discussing the series, and allowing their characters' relationship to grow naturally. According to Blick, the easy friendship between the two actors made the filming experience a joy. "It made my job unbelievably easy because all I had to do was work out where to put the camera and get the hell out of the way," the director told Bonnie Laufer . "They would do it in one or two takes, three tops, and we would move on because their relationship was so charismatic."

Hugo Blick felt personally connected to The English

At the age of 18, Hugo Blick, an Englishman, was sent to Montana as a corrective — a journey to straighten his life out. While living in Montana, Blick had an experience that would later become the beginning of "The English." He told Televisual about a hunting partner he had who Blick referred to as Chief. "He wasn't a chief. He called me English. We were easy with this casual racism, but pretty soon I got to see it was a one-way street –- with all the heavy traffic heading his way. Then one day he took off. I never knew his real name, nor he mine. I regretted that."

While the beginning of "The English" might have grown from an experience Blick now views with regret, the ending of the series is all about love. It's a majestic, tragic, and tender love story about two people from completely different cultures, yet brought together by grief and loneliness. And yes, even revenge. According to Blick, "for all the guns and whistles that these kinds of genres attach, the real purpose of 'The English' is that [sic] intimate tender moments of a love affair that develops between these two characters," he said in an interview with Bonnie Laufer . It's this powerful emotional resonance that makes the ending of "The English," and the story leading up to it, so captivating to watch.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, black writers week, made in england: the films of power & pressburger.

Now streaming on:

At the beginning of “Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger,” Martin Scorsese recounts how he first encountered the works of the legendary filmmaking duo of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger as a child under perhaps the worst conditions imaginable — on his family’s black-and-white television in substandard and edited prints that made hash of their visual elements. Even so, he found himself struck by the unique visions that saw them rise to the top of the British film industry, which managed to still ring true despite the reduced circumstances of their presentation. And yet, for more than 20 years after the dissolution of their partnership, their work was all but dismissed in their home country, a victim of changing tastes and the vitriolic critical and commercial reaction to one particular film. So much so that when Scorsese first met Powell in England in 1974, he was living in a small cottage and had been virtually blackballed from the industry over which he and his partner had once reigned.

This first meeting would prove to be an auspicious one for both. Within a few years, Scorsese would help spur a revival of “ Peeping Tom ,” the 1960 horror film that Powell would direct following the end of the partnership, that would see its reputation shift from “career-killing debacle” to “ahead-of-its-time masterwork,” that would lead to a resurgence of interest in the Powell-Pressburger canon as a whole, which could now be seen as they were meant to via restored prints, that should continue for as long as people are still willing to look upon cinema as an art form. Although the duo's reputation hardly needs bolstering these days, it gets just that in this extraordinary exploration of their legacy by one of the many filmmakers who have found themselves enthralled and inspired by it.

Although ostensibly directed by David Hinton , a documentarian whose past credits include a 1986 episode of England’s “South Bank Show” focused on Powell, the dominant voice throughout is that of Scorsese, who serves as our guide to the films and the men behind them in a way that is of a piece with his own epic examinations of cinema history, “A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies” (1995) and “My Voyage to Italy” (1999). Ironically, even though Scorsese didn’t actually direct this one, it is arguably the most personal of the bunch. Not only did he and Powell become close friends (with Powell going on to marry Scorsese’s longtime editor, Thelma Schoonmaker , in 1984) but, as he explains directly to the camera, many of the ideas and images that enthralled him as a viewer would turn up later on in his work, from how elements from “ The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp ,” Powell and Pressburger’s initially satiric and ultimately rueful exploration of British military authority, would crop up in films as varied as “ Raging Bull ” and “ The Age of Innocence ” (which coincidentally features a character named Archer, which was the name the duo gave to their partnership) to how the portrait of obsession painted so vividly in “ The Red Shoes ,” perhaps their most famous and celebrated work, would cast a shadow over “ Taxi Driver .”

At the same time, this is more than two hours of Scorsese fanboying over a bunch of familiar clips aimed at a sympathetic audience. He knows these films inside out, but you never get the sense that he is merely rehashing old observations—he discusses them with such love and enthusiasm that even those unfamiliar will be swept up by the energy. Moreover, his observations are fascinating—such as his discussions of the vivid visual imagery on display in the astonishing “ Black Narcissus ” or how the surreal beauty of the one-of-a-kind “Tales of Hoffmann” exemplified Powell’s governing belief of how cinema allowed the various artistic disciplines to come together in one unique whole. Even when he is discussing lesser Powell-Pressburger projects, such as “The Elusive Pimpernel” (1949) and “Gone to Earth” (1950)—both of which were interfered with by their Hollywood producers—and admitting that they are ultimately wanting, the observations are so interesting that your interest will still be piqued.

Because the focus of “Made in England” is primarily on the Powell-Pressburger collaborations, the films that they made on their own — except for Powell’s “Peeping Tom” and, to a lesser extent, “Age of Consent” — end up getting pushed to the side a bit. That quibble aside, this is an examination of cinema history so rich in detail and observation that it rivals most current film school curricula while being uncommonly watchable and entertaining. That said, if you see this film — and you should if you have even the slightest interest in cinema history — be prepared to set aside a lot of time afterward. You'll almost certainly want to take your own deep dive into their oeuvre as soon as it ends.

Peter Sobczynski

A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.

Now playing

Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge

Nandini balial.

The Bikeriders

Robert daniels.

The Nature of Love

Peyton robinson.

This Closeness

Despicable Me 4

Matt zoller seitz.

Fancy Dance

Jourdain searles, film credits.

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger movie poster

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024)

133 minutes

Martin Scorsese as Self – Narrator

Michael Powell as Self (archive footage)

Emeric Pressburger as Self (archive footage)

Deborah Kerr

Roger Livesey

David Niven

David Hinton

Latest blog posts

Osgood Perkins Wants to Rattle You with Longlegs

Shelley Duvall’s Five Best Performances

The Gene Siskel Film Center Celebrates the First and Last of Famous Filmmakers with their Entrances & Exits Series

Transplendent: Shelley Duvall (1949-2024)

Supported by

‘The Convert’ Review: The British Are Coming

Guy Pearce plays a minister who arrives in New Zealand and finds his allegiances change in this antipodean western set in the 19th century.

Share full article

In the foreground, a woman and a man sit on rocks. Behind them, a group of people stand on a sandy beach.

By Ben Kenigsberg

Near the start of “The Convert,” a minister named Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce) delivers a benediction aboard a ship. Some men, he says, would flinch if they knew just how vast the Earth is. “The Convert,” naturally, charts the course of Munro’s own education in the wide world. It is 1830, and he is on the Tasman Sea bound for New Zealand. The leaders of an emerging British town have paid for him to be brought there to run a church. But once he arrives and encounters the local Maori — and sees the murderous indifference with which the British treat them — his allegiances change.

In a welcome twist, “The Convert,” directed by Lee Tamahori, does not patronizingly tell the story of a violent colonizer who begins to sympathize with an uncomplicated, passive Indigenous population. Much of the drama concerns conflict among the Maori themselves. That their dialogue is sometimes subtitled and sometimes not is indicative of the movie’s — and maybe the screenwriters’ — tentative perspective.

Not long after first going ashore, Munro finds himself bargaining with Akatarewa (Lawrence Makoare), a violent chief, to save the life of a young woman, Rangimai (Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne). Along with Charlotte (Jacqueline McKenzie), a white widow who previously lived among the Maori, Rangimai becomes one of Munro’s conduits to Maori customs, and eventually a key to his efforts to secure Indigenous unity against British encroachment.

There is more plot — the framing of a grocer for a coldblooded killing; a perfunctory romance; a bloody climactic battle — but the real star of this Kiwi western is the setting. The lush forests and stark, black sand beaches, shot in locations near those used in “The Piano,” help make “The Convert” more than a message movie.

The Convert Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 59 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms .

Cast & crew

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

James Marsden, Tom Butler, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Tony McCarthy, Andy M Milligan, LeChristopher Williams, Nathan Hall, Amedeo Fedeli, James Wright, Jorma Taccone, Tika Sumpter, James Wolk, Ben Schwartz, Sofia Pernas, Lee Majdoub, Dempsey Gibson, Stuart Whelan, Alfredo Tavares, and Joshmaine Joseph in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

Plot under wraps Plot under wraps Plot under wraps

Jeff Fowler
Josh Miller
John Whittington
Ben Schwartz
Colleen O'Shaughnessey

Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Luke Freeborn, Tom Butler, Tom Holkenborg, Neal H. Moritz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Toru Nakahara, Brandon Trost, Tony McCarthy, Josh Miller, Pat Casey, Andy M Milligan, LeChristopher Williams, Amedeo Fedeli, James Wright, Jorma Taccone, Jeff Fowler, Tika Sumpter, Hitoshi Okuno, James Wolk, Ben Schwartz, Al LeVine, Sofia Pernas, Lee Majdoub, Toby Ascher, John Whittington, Dempsey Gibson, Stuart Whelan, Alfredo Tavares, Cristo Fernández, and Joshmaine Joseph in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

Maddie Wachowski

Commander Walters

Tom Wachowski

Dr. Robotnik

Agent Stone

Captain Rockwell

Party Guest

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia The film makers of the prior movies have mentioned playing both "Sonic Adventure 2" and the "Shadow The Hedgehog" solo game for inspiration. The film is also inspired by narrative elements from the Saturday morning animated television series "Sonic the Hedgehog" (1993 - 1994).
Connections Follows Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
When will Sonic the Hedgehog 3 be released? Powered by Alexa
December 20, 2024 (United States)
United States
Nhím Sonic 3
London, England, UK
Paramount Pictures
Sega Sammy Group
Original Film
See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

Dolby Digital
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Surround 7.1
12-Track Digital Sound
D-Cinema 96kHz 7.1

More to explore

IMAGES

The English movie review & film summary (2022)
The English
The English
THE ENGLISH Trailer 2022
The English Movie Review
Picture of The English

VIDEO

Dark Figure Of Crime Review Telugu @Kittucinematalks
Parasyte The Grey Review Telugu @Kittucinematalks
Kung Fu Dunk Review Telugu @Kittucinematalks
No Hard Feelings Review Telugu @Kittucinematalks
Deep Rising 1998 Review Telugu @Kittucinematalks
The Veil Review Telugu @Kittucinematalks

COMMENTS

The English movie review & film summary (2022)
This is a drama about lands shaped by violence and eroded by vengeance, a genre exercise with fantastic performances and film-caliber technical elements. Western fans definitely won't want to miss it. After a prologue that details the tumultuous state of existence in middle America in 1890, "The English" thrusts its two protagonists ...
'The English' Review: Emily Blunt Rules the Wild West
The plot is nonsense, but writer-director Hugo Blick lets Blunt and her co-stars shine in this tale of an English noblewoman on a revenge mission in 1890s America. Alan Sepinwall's review
Review: Amazon's The English Is a Stunning Western
Upon arriving at a dusty hotel in the desolate Kansas of 1890, Lady Cornelia Locke ( Emily Blunt) finds a badly beaten man, Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), chained to a post. She's an English ...
'The English' Review: Amazon Series with Emily Blunt Hits a Bullseye
Chaske Spencer and Emily Blunt in "The English" Diego Lopez Calvin / Prime Video. Despite his early predicament, Whipp's path soon intersects with Cornelia's. She claims it's magic — a ...
'The English' Review: Emily Blunt in Amazon's Big Swing of a Western
'The English' Review: Emily Blunt in Amazon's Big, Bold Swing of a Western. Hugo Blick's six-part series pairs Blunt and Chaske Spencer as outsiders seeking revenge on the wide open prairie.
Emily Blunt's 'The English' on Amazon Review
Emily Blunt stars as Lady Cornelia Locke, an English noblewoman who arrives in the post-war wasteland of the American West with an unyielding taste for revenge. Her destiny binds her to Chaske ...
The English review: an occasionally transcendent Western
Diego Lopez Calvin/Drama Republic/BBC/Amazon Studios. The English tells, in many ways, a simple revenge story. Its first episode introduces Blunt's Cornelia Locke and then reveals that she, like ...
The English Review: Humanity at the Center of the Western Frontier
The English resonates with its gritty, lived-in atmosphere, and it never loses sight of the humanity at the heart of this tragic tale. No matter how brutal, how bloody, how blistering the quest ...
'The English' Review: Emily Blunt & Chaske Spencer ...
"The English" is far from the first time the European country has stood in for states like Wyoming, and Blick follows a long Spaghetti Western tradition. It is a production that pulls you into its aesthetic from the first moment you see the evocative title sequence by Scatterlight Studios, which also clues you into how Federico Jusid's ...
The English Review: A Gorgeous And Gruesome Tale Of Vengeance ...
Emily Blunt stars as Lady Cornelia Locke, an Englishwoman of some means who arrives in Kansas looking for vengeance when the violent chaos of the plains throws a massive wrench in her plans. Her ...
The English Review: Saddle Up and Enjoy This Compelling ...
The English Review: Saddle Up and Enjoy This Compelling Chase Western. By Greg Archer. Published Nov 9, 2022. Emily Blunt, Chaske Spencer, and a stellar cast fuel creator Hugo Blick's passionate ...
The English, review: Emily Blunt's operatic Western is brilliant
Emily Blunt is an Englishwoman, Lady Cornelia Locke, who pitches up in the newly created territory of Oklahoma. She has a bag full of cash and is here to track down the man who killed her son. By ...
The English review: Pure, delicious, American cheese that, at its best
At its best, The English feels like it could've been made by the Coen brothers. And for a Thursday night drama on BBC Two, that's a huge compliment. And for a Thursday night drama on BBC Two ...
The English
Link to 100 Best Movies on Tubi (July 2024) ... 84% Avg. Tomatometer 61 Reviews 84% Avg. Audience Score 500 ... and Hugo Blick on Reinventing the Western Revenge Mission in The English. Videos
'The English' Review: Emily Blunt Goes Wild
Directed and written by British filmmaker Hugo Blick, who created 2018's Black Earth Rising starring Michaela Coel, he lingers on the mechanics of these confrontations, giving the scenes a dry ...
News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's US edition
We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us.
'The English' on Prime Video: The Ending Explained and Your ...
She covered film and TV news and reviews. The movie that inspired her to want a career in film is Lost in Translation. She won Best New Journalist in 2019 at the Australian IT Journalism Awards.
'The English' Prime Video Review: Stream It Or Skip It?
The English reminds us of the Yellowstone prequel 1883, as well as Walker: Independence, just told from a different perspective. Our Take: The perspective we talk about above is twofold.
'The English': Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer Saddle Up
A new Amazon series puts an unlikely alliance at the heart of an unconventional tribute to the classic American western. "When Chaske came and read for the part, the air changed in the room ...
'The English': Emily Blunt stars in bloody but wooden western
The newly created state of Wyoming and sprawling Oklahoma territory are shockingly beautiful and brutal places in "The English," Amazon Prime Video's six-part drama set in 1890s America.
The English (TV series)
The English is a revisionist Western television miniseries written and directed by Hugo Blick, and produced by the BBC and Amazon Prime.Starring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, it follows an Englishwoman who travels to the American West in 1890 to seek revenge on the man she blames for the death of her son. It premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC Two and iPlayer on 10 November 2022, and in ...
The English Review: Emily Blunt Amazon Western Drama Gets ...
'The English' Loses a Compelling Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer Two-Hander in Convoluted Web of Grievances: TV Review Amazon Prime Video's new Western drama has plenty going for it, but ...
The Ending Of The English Explained
The English is a powerful story of revenge, grief, and love set in the American West. ... EXCLUSIVES MOVIES TV STREAMING COMICS REVIEWS NEWS FEATURES. Advertise. ... For many movie-goers, it ...
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger movie review (2024
At the beginning of "Made in England: The Films of Powell & Pressburger," Martin Scorsese recounts how he first encountered the works of the legendary filmmaking duo of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger as a child under perhaps the worst conditions imaginable — on his family's black-and-white television in substandard and edited prints that made hash of their visual elements.
'The Convert' Review: The British Are Coming
The lush forests and stark, black sand beaches, shot in locations near those used in "The Piano," help make "The Convert" more than a message movie. The Convert Not rated. Running time: 1 ...
Fly Me to the Moon (2024 film)
Fly Me to the Moon is a 2024 American period romantic comedy-drama film directed by Greg Berlanti from a screenplay by Rose Gilroy and a story by Bill Kirstein and Keenan Flynn. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Jim Rash, Anna Garcia, Donald Elise Watkins, Noah Robbins, Colin Woodell, Christian Zuber, Nick Dillenburg, Ray Romano, and Woody Harrelson.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Directed by Jeff Fowler. With Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves. Plot under wraps