Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas

Released May 30, 2014

2h 2m

Drama

History

List

47%

32 Reviews

Tomatometer

38%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 16th-century France, a horse trader (Mads Mikkelsen) raises a peasant army and goes to war to exact vengeance on an unjust lord.

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Critics Consensus

Age of the Uprising is well-acted and skillfully composed; unfortunately, it crawls along too slowly to take advantage of its finer qualities.

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R 9

It's a good film, even though it could've been done far greater. This does make for a quite pleasant two hours, it's a simple story and portrayed it quite an understated and straightforward way. While that is a positive, it is actually also a negative in a weird sorta way. As much as I enjoyed it, I still wanted much more from it; and I feel like it had greater in its locker. Mads Mikkelsen as Michael Kohlhaas (apparently loosely based on real life Hans Kohlhase) is great casting and Mikkelsen puts in a performance of quality, though I personally believe a more commanding showing would've elevated the movie higher... but that's minor, as less in fairness still would work either way. The support cast are solid. Two other parts that could've made this 2013 release stronger are the dialogue and the music. For the former, none of the conversations or speeches struck a memorable cord. For the latter, I wanted a proper movie score throughout as I think it would've suited things onscreen perfectly; thankfully, we do get a great piece of music at the end at least. All in all, 'Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas' could've went up a few gears but what's there is still a good watch in my opinion.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/16/23

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Joe A

Boring, incredibly boring. For a movie about an "uprising" it provides zero excitement and honestly doesn't provide any details about this seemingly historic event

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

11/26/22

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Audience Member

3stars for Mads 1. 5for the image

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Late R

If you ever wondered whether it would be possible to make what is essentially a revenge story tedious, slow and boring to watch, then ‘Age of Uprising: Michael Kohlhaas' is your answer. The pacing is strange for such a story and the sparse dialogue stands out, and not in a good way. Yes, it's nicely filmed making use of the beautiful surroundings and locations, and the cast is great with the always superb Mads Mikkelsen doing his best to offer some point of interest which results in a few engaging scenes, but even he can only do so much. In short, it's neither fun nor entertaining and I found myself often checking my watch which I never take as a good sign.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/17/20

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Audience Member

I watched it only because Mads Mikkelsen is in it. I just needed to get out of my head the Mikkelsen Hannibal persona, since I didn't like the series at all but love Mikkelsen. I agree with all those who found the movie too slow. A half hour could have been excised in the movie's interest. I was most annoyed by the bad lighting and filming that was too close, showing irrelevant fragments , as if tearing apart and dissecting a beautiful painting. At times the camera moved so erratically that it seemed to be a home movie. Thankfully, Mads Mikkelsen made it all worthwhile. He's a major actor of great charisma and sensitivity.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie is impressive. This is a novel adaptation, the book dating from the XIX century. I think it has to be seen by those who want to understand the idea of revenge or who simply would like to do law. Because the movie explaining what justice is worth. Sorry I'm french so my English is not amazing.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

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Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

metro.co.uk

Arnaud des Pallières's dreary French costume drama might have been called Robin Hood And His Very Un-Merry Men.

Rated: 2/5

Sep 6, 2017

Full Review

Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

The film is almost monotonously somber, though not in a bad way -- when it erupts into violence or settles briefly into moments of intimacy, the shift in tone can be surprising, even invigorating.

Jun 5, 2014

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Mike D'Angelo

AV Club

It can be quite powerful on the rare occasions when it allows raw emotion to make its way to the surface.

Rated: B-

Jun 5, 2014

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Daniel Green

CineVue

There's little to distract one from this drab literary adaptation's ponderous pace and washed out palette - even the great Dane himself.

Rated: 2/5

Mar 7, 2019

Full Review

Alistair Harkness

Scotsman

The film is not without merit, although it remains too much of a slow-burn to really catch fire as the gritty, medieval Euro western its set up promises.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 2, 2018

Full Review

Jason Solomons

The Mail on Sunday (UK)

We might laugh, but Mikkelsen is so moody and magnificent we take him very seriously. That's part of the problem. Mikkelsen is too cool, too brooding and we never get behind his icy mask.

Rated: 3/5

Oct 31, 2017

Full Review

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Synopsis

In 16th-century France, a horse trader (Mads Mikkelsen) raises a peasant army and goes to war to exact vengeance on an unjust lord.

Director: Arnaud des Pallières
Producer: Florence Gilles
Screenwriter: Christelle Berthevas, Arnaud des Pallières, Heinrich von Kleist
Distributor: Music Box Films
Production Co: K'Ien Productions, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, Les Films d'ici, arte France Cinéma, Hérodiade, Looks Filmproduktionen, ZDF Arte
Genre: Drama, History
Original Language: French (France)
Release Date (Theaters): May 30, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 23, 2015
Runtime: 2h 2m
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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