'The Uprising' & 'Onslaught'

by Philip Price

The Uprising 

Photo: Focus Features

“The Uprising” is Paul Greengrass’ Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Robin of Locksley Rises.’ 
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You may read that and think of it only as a bit, but Thomasin McKenzie literally says the line, “When Johnny Boy raised me from darkness,” as if she were trapped in those caves right alongside Jamie Bell’s John “Bane” Ball. 

Equally mystifying is how, despite Walt Disney’s 1973 animated classic still being one of my all-time favorites, it is crazy that they keep making live-action remakes of this property after already giving up on Aladdin. I kid, but we’ve arguably had just as many takes on Robin Hood in the past 20 years as we’ve had Batman movies. 

There’s something about how God governed the whole of societal structure at this time and, furthermore, how belief in this figure was such a guiding light for people’s lives that they’d endure being grossly mistreated for the sake of truth and light. Unfortunately, Greengrass’ screenplay never quite cracks the proceedings of this familiar tale with such thematic decisions.

Andrew Garfield is never not effective, his “Ploughman” utilizing the actor’s strong, silent charisma to make us believe in his power to lead a revolution, yet aside from the trailer moments, it almost feels as if the actor was most concerned with how accurately weathered he appeared more than anything else. 
It is incredible … the amount of power we allow a piece of paper to have over us.

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Onslaught 

Photo: A24

I was surprised how quickly this ended when it just began to feel like it'd found its groove, but as long as you don’t take “Onslaught” too seriously, the fact it doesn't amount to much won't override the fun to be had or even the potential many of its influences allude to. A key example is that every word Dan Stevens' mad scientist Hans Kammler speaks (“Progress does not crawl on its belly like the worm.”) feels like utter nonsense, and given Stevens delivers it in his most serious and dramatic tone, it makes this incredibly funny even as the arc we might have hoped for from his character is cut short; much like every other aspect of the film. 
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Matthew Pusti's score does a nice job of using the sounds that made its inspirations' hallmarks without simply iterating on them. If stunt casting was a category, this and ‘Camp Miasma’ would be in a dead heat for first given the utilization of Reginald VelJohnson and Michael Biehn here, while Adria Arjona does an equally nice job of taking up the Ellen Ripley/Sarah Connor mantle that Adam Wingard and co-writer Simon Barrett place at the center of the film; Eric Wareheim lowkey stealing every scene he’s in to boot. A strong child performance from Blake Kennedy only adds credibility to the emotional heft of the conflict, as does the genuinely disturbing gas station sequence in which a mass shooting is enacted, adding an unexpected weight to the executions Wingard previously made viewers believe would all be in good genre fun. Though it's clear Wingard and Barrett have some strong opinions, none are given enough time or space to suggest “Onslaught” has more on its mind than homage.