REVIEW: ‘Uprising’ is an intense, but largely forgettable dramatization

Is this a Robin Hood origin story? I’m not really sure. I don’t think the filmmakers were sure, either.

The main focus of this picture, written and directed by Paul Greengrass, is a peasant revolt in the late 1300s where a group of farmers and townsfolk descended on London to demand changes from King Richard II. At the time, the king, still a teenager, had a council making many of the decisions, including the levy of higher taxes.

Helping spark the revolt is a farmer who goes by Ploughman (Andrew Garfield), who kills a soldier to protect fellow citizens. The rest of his town and nearby communities rally behind him, as well as former soldier Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis) and priest John Ball (Jamie Bell), with a coalition forming to march on London and ask for relief.

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