Manhunt Review

Your enjoyment of Manhunt, the new historical miniseries from AppleTV+, will likely hinge on how much you remember from your American History classes. If you can’t quite recall just who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln (that would be John Wilkes Booth, played here – with a flat American accent – by Anthony Boyle), who his Vice President was (that would be Andrew Johnson, whose idea of just what the post-Civil War reconstruction period would be was quite a bit different from Lincoln’s), and just what happened to Booth and Lincoln’s Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies, emotionally strong but yet another Brit with an interesting American accent) in the ensuing days following Lincoln’s death, then you might find this series to have some real stakes. If you’re like me and you are well-versed in this particular period in American history, well, the whole thing will feel like a bit of a slog. It’s rare I say this, but Manhunt really could have just been a movie.

The series runs seven episodes and is split into two separate spheres of storytelling: Booth’s (and his co-conspirator, David Herold’s) attempt to evade the federal forces coming after him and Stanton’s drive to find Booth while also trying to work with newly sworn in President Johnson to keep Lincoln’s federal policy on track. Now, there’s a really interesting show within the clashes between Stanton and Johnson – a look at political horse trading and how a former Vice President with a very different view on how to resolve the Civil War than his former boss can end up shaping the next century of American history, while Stanton slowly comes to terms with the fact that Johnson isn’t his good friend Lincoln and his influence has been all but lost with the death of his friend and President – but my god does the search for Booth section of the story drag. Don’t worry, the story hits all the key points in Booth’s attempt to escape capture. And the series makes clear his Confederate sympathies and his hatred of anyone who isn’t white. But it takes so long to get this story to its conclusion, and it keeps hitting the same beats whilst doing so. This really could have been a tight two-hour film about the search for Booth, even if that meant we lost the interesting political story in the process.

With the time the series spends with Booth, you would imagine it would try to paint a complex portrait of the character. You know, take the time to dig into just what inspired this moderately successful stage actor to join a conspiracy attempting to not only assassinate the president but to also take out other key governmental officials. Yet, we never really get the chance to dig deeper into Booth’s psyche other than to understand that he truly believed his cause and actions were righteous and would save the South. And while Boyle is a strong actor – he did excellent work in Apple’s World War II series, Masters of the Air – he’s miscast here. A soulful performer, he’s shockingly closed off in his performance. And his American accent is merely a retread of the generic, flat one he previously used in Masters, further straining the performance as he is unable to inject any real emotion into his voice.

The other side of the story is much more successful, largely because there are far more moving parts and interesting plot points to delve into. When tracing Stanton’s actions in the aftermath of the assassination, we are also treated to flashbacks (although they do start to muddy up the timeline of the series a bit as they keep popping up long after their use expires), showing the relationship between Lincoln and Stanton – who famously did not like each other at the outset of the working relationship before becoming close friends. Hamish Linklater takes on the formidable role of Lincoln, offering a more lively version of the president than I’ve seen before, while also showing the naivete he possessed when it came to trying to deduce the next steps in the post-war process. Menzies is a solid Stanton, a stressed-out statesman, grieving while also recognizing that he needs to immediately take the measure of Johnson if he wants to have any hope of seeing his vision for the future through. The clashes between Stanton and Johnson are far and away the most interesting parts of the series and provide the dramatic tension that is missing from the Booth side of the tale (a side effect of telling a well-known story with a well-known resolution).

It’s not easy to create a compelling historical drama. You have to be sure you lay out the story beats clearly enough for those without much knowledge of the topic at hand, while also making sure you can capture and keep the attention of those who come into the piece with a good grasp of the story being told. With Manhunt, that balance is not met – which is a fault of the writing, taking a story that could have been told in a shorter format and stretching it beyond its bounds into a seven-episode miniseries. For those without much of an understanding of Booth’s story, you may learn some knew things, but the story lacks the interior of a character who could have really popped on the screen. And, if you are someone with a strong understanding of this piece of American history, well, there’s not a lot here that will make you want to stick around for the whole story to unfold.

Manhunt premieres on AppleTV+ on March 15. All seven episodes of the series were provided for review.