51
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- With strong performances, the gorgeously overwhelming environment (the sounds of wind and flies are practically supporting characters), and at least one agonizingly long close-up, Age of Uprising unsettles as it raises troubling questions about the price, morality and flexibility of a "principled stand."
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawPerhaps as a parable, simplicity is what is required, although sometimes the film does not rise to tragedy. Visually, Age of Uprising is classy and plausible, but delivers less than it promises.
- 60The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinAge of Uprising falls awkwardly (but not altogether unappealingly) into the gap between art film and horse opera.
- 60Total FilmNeil SmithTotal FilmNeil SmithDirector Arnaud des Pallières lends a bleak austerity to the story, but with only one murky battle scene to quicken the blood it’s hardly a recipe for unbridled excitement.
- 42The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangIt’s handsome, stately and deathly dull.
- 40Time Out LondonGeoff AndrewTime Out LondonGeoff AndrewUnfortunately, Arnaud de Pallieres’s film succeeds neither as a decent adaptation of the book nor as a rewarding movie in its own right.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerAn old-fashioned, Robin Hood-style revenge tale that favors self-serious storytelling over action and suspense, Arnaud des Pallieres’ Michael Kohlhaas provides a few quick thrills and some beautifully photographed landscapes, but never really convinces as an intellectual’s swords-and-horses period piece.
- 40VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergKleist’s direct language and straightforward storytelling are nowhere in evidence in Pallieres’ narratively challenged adaptation, featuring a French-speaking Mads Mikkelsen in one of his least impressive characterizations.
- 40CineVueDaniel GreenCineVueDaniel GreenEven Lavant's brief cameo as a roving theologist towards the finale can't spark the disappointingly bland Michael Kohlhaas into life - surely the most damning indictment of all.
- 40EmpireDavid ParkinsonEmpireDavid ParkinsonThis leaden relocating of an iconic German saga to 16th-century France isn’t helped by the miscast Mads Mikkelsen’s morose display as Michael Kohlhaas.