The Uprising
Genre Good
Drama
Historical
War
Intense
SpectacleThe review
Paul Greengrass dramatizes the 1381 Peasants' Revolt with his trademark handheld immediacy, and the film's greatest asset is its center: critics broadly agree that Andrew Garfield delivers a physically committed, outstanding turn as a farmer who calls himself only "the Ploughman" and becomes an unlikely figurehead of a commoners' rebellion. The supporting cast — including Jamie Bell as radical cleric John Ball and Cosmo Jarvis as Wat Tyler — draws consistent praise, and the muddy, tactile production design is credited with convincingly capturing 14th-century England. The visceral battle sequences land as moments of genuine power for many reviewers.
The consensus breaks down over the writing and structure. Reviewers repeatedly flag thin characterization, a script that rarely lets its provocative ideas surface, and a rushed, disorienting start that skips meaningful setup. The film's parallel plotline around the young King Richard II and his corrupt council splits opinion — some find it adds a haunting modern-day resonance, others find it meandering and purposeless after its first movement.
The most contentious choice is the film's late attempt to graft Robin Hood mythology onto a story that, critics argue, already had a strong identity of its own. A substantial camp sees this swerve as cheapening what came before — designed to placate contemporary audiences rather than honor the revolt's real figures — while a smaller group reads it as a lively, adventurous framing. The dispute is less about whether the filmmaking delivers visceral energy (most agree it does) and more about whether the story earns its mythology; pacing complaints center on a saggy middle and an overstretched final act rather than the action itself.
Who it's for
Viewers who want gritty, visceral medieval history — grounded peasant revolt drama rather than polished fantasy — plus fans of Greengrass's kinetic, handheld style and of Garfield in a raw, physically demanding lead. Those interested in real 1381 history and contemporary parallels about power and the taxed poor will find it rewarding.
Who it's not for
Anyone expecting a classic Robin Hood adventure will likely be frustrated: the mythology connection is thin and divisive. Viewers who dislike shaky-cam realism, need strong character arcs from their epics, or bounce off bleak, muddy, violent historical material should look elsewhere. Those allergic to slow middles in 2+ hour period pieces may check their watch. — Graphic violence · Bloody images · Intense/perilous battle sequences · Bleak, oppressive themes
Birds of a feather...
- FilmChildren of Men (2006)
The clearest kinship: Greengrass's own signature style. Children of Men shares the handheld, documentary-style immediacy, the ground-level experience of political chaos, and the theme of state power pressing on the vulnerable. Watching The Uprising feels like seeing that same unstable camera pointed at medieval England.
88% - FilmThe Revenant (2015)
Both are visceral, sensory meditations on a man stripped to his essence by hostile circumstances, shot with hypnotic realism that blurs documentary and myth. Mud, blood, cold, and labor are the texture of both; violence is ugly rather than triumphant, and both reward viewers who can sit with punishing physical immersion.
82% - FilmAndrei Rublev (1966)
Tarkovsky's episodes of medieval Russia share the mud, rain, and austerity of The Uprising's 14th-century England — history rendered with documentary patience rather than pageantry. Both are bleak, slow, and concerned with faith and hierarchy amid carnage, though Rublev is more meditative where Greengrass is frantic.
74% - Film12 Years a Slave (2013)
Both films indict an extractive system through the body — through labor, suffering, and erasure rather than speeches. Both refuse catharsis and comfort, using formal rigor (long takes, unflinching violence) to force the viewer into complicit witness of oppression's physical cost.
65% - FilmSeven Samurai (1954)
Kurosawa's film shares the concern with the exploited peasantry, the grim economics of violence, and battle sequences where peril and human consequence matter more than triumph. The Uprising's folkloric, class-conscious medievalism sits closer to this tradition than to reverent costume drama, though Seven Samurai offers far richer characterization.
58% - FilmPlatoon (1986)
Stone's Vietnam film shares the destabilized handheld camerawork, ground-level chaos, and a bleak refusal of heroic redemption — war experienced from the mud rather than the command tent. The tonal overlap in carnage-as-peril is strong even though the setting is modern.
52%