The Uprising (2026)

Medieval England has never looked this jittery. Paul Greengrass films the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 like breaking news, the camera never stops shaking, and the grey skies and endless mud make 128 minutes feel heavy. The opening stretch is strong. After the plague, the council of a teenage Richard II needs money and decides the peasants should pay it. Andrew Garfield plays a ploughman who has already lost his wife and children, and a tax collector demands he pay their death taxes again because he lacks the paperwork. That scene is the movie’s anger in miniature. Jamie Bell is excellent as John Ball, a priest preaching that all people are equal, and Cosmo Jarvis brings a soldier’s grit to Wat Tyler. The march on London is gripping, and the final minutes nearly undo it. A 5.6 because the performances and the fury are real and the style keeps fighting the story. $903.22 says you read the tax line on your next pay stub a lot more closely than usual.

What works: Jamie Bell and Andrew Garfield are strong, and the early scenes make the peasants’ anger over crushing taxes feel urgent and real.

What doesn’t: The nonstop handheld camera turns the battles into a blur, and an epilogue in the final minutes feels bolted on from a different film.

Who it’s for: History fans who want the Peasants’ Revolt on a big canvas and don’t mind a bleak, muddy ride to get there.