The English

I'm impressed by how good The English was, it's every bit as good as I had hoped it would be. As a huge fan of Westerns I was excited from the first moment I heard about this and then when I saw the trailers I was even more excited. This mini-series not only met my expectations but exceeded them. Emily Blunt was absolutely terrific. She plays Cornelia Locke, an English lady who's looking for revenge for the death of her son. She teams up with Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) who is a just retired calvary scout and also a member of the Pawnee Nation. It's a brutal series about revenge and one of the better westerns I've seen in a while.

Emily Blunt is magnificent and she carries this show, adding sense and grace to a series that has a bit too much nonsense dialogue (shades of Deadwood?) and disgraceful white males who are at times cartoonish in their villainous bigotry and psychopathy. Chaske Spencer also cuts a fine hero as the noble Pawnee who is astride two worlds having served in the US Army and bystander to some of their atrocities.

There were a number of parallels to 'Godless' which I rated a 10 such as the romantic duo that are thrust together on a Western adventure fighting injustice, and the heroine's skill with horses and weaponry. Unfortunately there were a few drawbacks to this one as well, starting with the aforementioned dialogue that got a bit too poetic for my taste, and the seemingly endless supply of Snidely Whiplash types without an ounce of empathy for natives that just seemed a bit over the top in the effort to drive home the race relations point.

Beyond that there were some truly awful uses of green screen that seemed terribly out of place when so much of it was shot with beautiful on-location vistas (shot in Spain, but you'd never know it wasn't the American West). There were a lot of characters that came and went that got to be confusing at times, and one in particular that seemed crucial to the story that died off-screen with a very random explanation that made it seem like they left his real ending on the cutting room floor.

The plot twist reveal in the final episode was certainly a surprise yet earned through some clues along the way, but also felt like it really changed the type of story being told and required a bunch of audience exposition that seemed out of place that late in the game.

Even with all that it was a compelling show that I enjoyed watching for the most part so I gave it a 7. It seems most reviewers thought more highly of it than I did which I respect. They can make another Western with Emily Blunt anytime and I will surely watch it.

Leave aside for a moment, the superb writing, casting, acting and direction. Other reviews deal with that. Take note that everything about this series, from the artwork of the opening credits, to the unique use of sound, to the tight closeups in the action scenes, is an homage to one of the greatest directors of all time, yet unfortunately a director almost lost to history. Because other auteurs love to copy him, but never credit him. Even Eastwood, who was rescued from obscurity (after Rawhide concluded) by Leone, never publicly acknowledged Leone's contributions to the medium. Leone is mentioned several times in my IMDb list of all time greatest films of the last century. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Starts off real slow so requires patience; only 6 episodes but you're in for a long ride and it's a show that needs to be watched in it's entirety so if you're not going to finish it, don't bother starting.

It's a western, feels a lot like 1883 so if you enjoyed that, this is down the same street. I loved that they didn't change the lighting to that dusty shade of yellow just to show it's desert, the green plants actually look green, small detail but a lot of western or movies based in the middle east or Mexico always feel like you're watching it with the night light or reading mode setting on.

You can say Emily blunt and Chaske Spencer were bound to carry the show since they're the only omnipresent characters, but they actually did a great job while at it. They also had this "will they, won't they?" chemistry, wasn't annoying although it is the second time Emily blunt has had such a role after Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, also in the desert but completely different movie, just thought of mentioning it.

This is an elegantly made western, yeah sure it's the land with no law, survival in the wild Wild West with constant conflicts between cowboys, outlaws and Indians; but it's not just mindless bullets and arrows flying. The plot isn't that long really, similar to 1883 you could summarize it as the characters move from one part of America to another with things happening in-between. In this case it's Cornelia(Emily blunt) looking to revenge her son.

It isn't dialogue heavy for the most part, but it puts the little it has to great use. Also makes it feel like every scene serves purpose, there aren't any fillers. However I still think some of the side plot stories felt off, I didn't know were they were heading yet a decent amount of time is spent on them. Several graphic scenes and characters, some even horror-esque, most notably black-eyed mog with her nightmarish stare.

The ending is well thought out, I never saw it coming. There's a big reveal moment in the finale that I thought was a wrap on the show, but it's then followed by another. They made sense, there were subtle inklings throughout that you only realize their significance at the end when stories come together.

I suggest binge watching it; if you can't just pay attention. At first glance it's a series that doesn't seem to require it but it does need attention to fully grapple everything. There were several moments in the last episode were I thought 'oh now that scene/that detail makes sense now'. Great miniseries but could've easily been a movie as well.

Although it's becoming more common to show the darker side of the American frontier, I don't know if there's a genre that people are habitually more romantic about than westerns. I don't think anyone will come away from The English pining to have lived in the late 19th century. People are robbed and murdered so casually, people get sick from preventable diseases and are horribly disfigured, the law is bought and paid for etc. But The English presents it in all it's glory and there's a frankness to it that I appreciated. These characters live a world where day-to-day choices could mean the difference between life and death and it grounds the show in some pretty serious stakes. The English doesn't pull punches or paint a more rosy coloured picture of the setting and trouble lies around the corner for Cornelia and Eli in every waking moment.

Despite the shows bleak tone, I want to echo a lot of other reviewers here in saying that the cinematography, the costuming, the set dressing are all fantastic. The beauty of this harsh terrain is captured in every single frame and it's easy to be swept up in the awe of it. The open grasslands are brimming with potential if you forget about all the territorial massacres and unforgiving terrain, you can see why people still made the journey there.

The English centres around Cornelia and Eli who find themselves travelling companions after some very coincidental yet trying circumstances. Both protagonists are compelling and very well drawn. Cornelia's resiliency is inspiring, she is forced to change so drastically over the course of the series but she rises to the occasion time after time. She arrives as an unassuming aristocrat but she's barely recognizable by the time the series concludes. She's had to face so much but she is forthright and her bond with Eli is so strong that they can overcome almost anything together. Eli is just as interesting, he's a former native soldier who can't escape the preconceived biases around his race. He's been around the bend in every sense of the word and he's trying to make peace with his past when his chance encounter with Cornelia opens the door to a possible future that he might never had considered. Their partnership grows out of a mutual respect and a shared grief as they have both experienced terrible loss and hardship. It's one of the best displays of a fledgling relationship I've seen in any genre and it's another area in which The English stands out.

The show primarily revolves around Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, you'd be surprised how many of the bigger names in the cast vanish and reappear after long stretches. Blunt is pitch perfect as Cornelia, she portrays Cornelia with all her mixed emotions. She really has to run the emotional gauntlet with this character. But she does so with aplomb, it's a performance with many layers and I think she deserves some awards consideration along with her costar. Their shared rapport is amazing, they are great together and apart and I couldn't help but root for both of their characters because of their work. Chaske is absolutely her equal, he's perfect as the strong but reserved Eli. Chaske exudes toughness and as strange as it sounds, you can believe in Eli's traumatic past through Chaske's delivery of a few but very meaningful words. I liked his character best and he never stops being magnetic even when he's having to give Emily's character some tough talk to help her realize what she has to do. The other performance I want to highlight is Rafe Spall as the villainous David Melmont. I vastly preferred Rafe's work in The English to stuff like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, he does a marvellous job as the depraved yet calculating killer. His character would have fit perfectly in something like Red Dead Redemption right down to the hat and the moustache. This performance completely reversed my opinion of him as an actor and I look forward to seeing him in other things.

I'm not someone who seeks out a western, people tend to be almost fanatical about them and other than a few one offs (Tombstone was great), it's just an occasional viewing for me. The English is awesome in almost every category across the board and I was blown away by it. The pace can be a little methodical but it can't run at a mile a minute and it was never too slow for too long. I want to wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone that's interested and even to people who aren't. I expect it to garner some consideration and it would be well deserved. Check The English out if you have the chance.