The Uprising is a grim, blood-soaked 14th-century rebellion thriller that doubles as a gritty Robin Hood origin story, and its R rating comes from graphic medieval warfare, severed heads on pikes, and disturbing scenes of soldiers groping teenage girls to enforce a tax.
Directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Andrew Garfield, The Uprising brings the 1381 English Peasants' Revolt to the screen with brutal realism, making it a heavy watch best suited for older teens (15+) and adults who love intense history. While the language and drinking are minimal, the film features relentless sword-and-arrow carnage and upsetting themes of sexual violence. Younger history buffs or families wanting the Robin Hood legend without the decapitations will get much more out of The Adventures of Robin Hood or the sharp, funny Horrible Histories.
Released in September 2026, The Uprising drops viewers into England less than thirty years after the Black Death. The kingdom's coffers are empty from plague depopulation and ongoing wars with France and Scotland. Rather than taking on the Church or the wealthy London merchant guilds, the councilors to teenage King Richard II (Woody Norman) levy a crushing poll tax on the commoners.
When soldiers enforcing the tax cross a horrifying line in local villages, a farmer known simply as Ploughman (Andrew Garfield) and a former soldier named Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis) fight back. Fueled by the sermons of radical priest John Ball (Jamie Bell), a massive rebel army marches on London. They believe the young king is being kept in the dark by corrupt advisors and will grant them justice if they can speak to him face to face. The screenplay frames Ploughman's journey as the spark that eventually births the Robin Hood myth.
As a piece of filmmaking, Greengrass delivers the kinetic, boots-on-the-ground intensity he is known for. The production design avoids turning medieval London into a cartoon mud pit, and the score and cinematography carry real weight. Where the movie stumbles is character depth. The two-hour-and-eight-minute runtime [1, 2] moves at a breakneck clip, throwing new plot developments at the screen every five minutes [3] while leaving a massive cast—including Katherine Waterston, Thomasin McKenzie, Stephen Dillane, and Tom Hollander—with very little room to breathe [2]. You feel the sweep of the mob, even if the individuals get lost in the smoke.
The MPAA stamped The Uprising with an R for "violence/bloody images," [2, 3, 5] and it earns every bit of it [1, 4, 6]. Surprisingly, profanity and substance use are barely factors—there is brief drinking and sparing use of words like "hell" and "whoring." [1] The intensity lives entirely in the physical brutality and how women are treated during the revolt [1, 2].
- Graphic medieval combat: Sword slashes, throat-slicing, blades to the chest and crotch, and someone cut across the eyes with audible crunches and blood sprays [1, 2]. An army ambushes a crowd that has laid down its weapons, launching volleys of arrows and cutting down people as they flee [2].
- Beheadings and corpses: Multiple men are dragged to a tree stump and decapitated in front of a crowd [2]. The camera shows the headless bodies pooling with blood, and rebels later parade the severed heads on spikes in celebration [1, 2, 4]. Another character is nearly hung by a noose [1].
- Sexual assault and harassment: To determine if teenage girls are "of age" to pay the king's tax, soldiers force their hands up the girls' skirts while the girls cry and their families protest [1, 2, 3]. Later, a woman describes being raped by a drunk monk while in a convent, being forced to carry the baby, and having the child ripped away from her before she was cast out [2].
Because of that specific mix, the movie lands very differently than a stylized action flick. If a teen is curious about the film because they heard it's a dark Robin Hood prequel, the tax-collector scenes and the mob violence are the details to lay on the table beforehand.
For high schoolers who can handle the gore, The Uprising offers a meaty, unsentimental look at how political movements fracture. Most Hollywood rebellion movies stop right when the underdogs win their first battle. Greengrass keeps the camera rolling as the peasant army takes London, factions splinter, churches burn, and the rebels start executing the innocent alongside the guilty [4].
If you watch it with an older teen, the best conversation afterward is about the line between justice and vengeance [4]. Ploughman starts with a righteous cause, anchored by his conscience and his bond with Alice, but the movie forces the question of what happens when an oppressed crowd gets a taste of unchecked power [4]. It also pairs directly with high school European history: asking why the Peasants' Revolt believed the teenage king was on their side—a real historical phenomenon where rebels blamed "evil councilors" rather than the monarch himself—turns a bloody movie night into sharp historical analysis [3].
For more high-school-ready picks and media context, check out our digital guide for high school.
If the rebellion theme or the Robin Hood angle is the draw, but you want better writing or less trauma, these hit the mark depending on who is watching.
For the Unflinching History Buff (Older Teens)
- Outlaw King: If an older teen wants muddy, R-rated 14th-century warfare done with stronger character focus, Chris Pine's take on Robert the Bruce fighting the English army delivers the same visceral period accuracy and tactical grit.
- The King: Timothée Chalamet plays young Henry V in a slow-burn, muddy Shakespearean adaptation that questions the morality of war and royal advisors without feeling rushed.
For the Robin Hood Purist (Tweens and Up)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood: The 1938 Errol Flynn classic remains the gold standard for a reason. It captures the exact taxation-and-oppression setup of the legend with Technicolor swashbuckling, zero gore, and elite pacing.
- Robin Hood (1973): For younger siblings in the house, Disney's animated fox version is genuinely about oppressive tax collection—Prince John and the Sheriff squeezing the poor—wrapped in one of the most charming, low-stress movies ever made.
For Kids Who Like the Dirty History Without the Gore (Ages 8–13)
- Horrible Histories: The British sketch-comedy series covers the Black Death, the Peasants' Revolt, and Wat Tyler directly, keeping all the gross, absurd historical facts while playing them for brilliant musical comedy.
- A Plague Tale: Innocence: For older teens who game, this narrative stealth title is set during the 14th-century plague and Hundred Years' War. It is dark and intense, focusing on two siblings surviving the Inquisition and swarms of rats, with far better emotional grounding than most medieval movies.
Want more tailored options? Find historical adventure movies for a teen
or browse our best movies for kids list and our digital guide for middle school.
Q: Why is The Uprising (2026) rated R?
The Uprising is rated R for strong violence and bloody images [2, 3, 5]. The film includes multiple decapitations, severed heads displayed on spikes, graphic sword and arrow wounds, and scenes where soldiers sexually harass teenage girls by reaching under their skirts [1, 2].
Q: What age is The Uprising appropriate for?
The movie fits best at age 15 and up [1]. While there is almost no profanity or drug use, the relentless medieval gore and a verbal recounting of a sexual assault make it heavy viewing that aligns with late high schoolers and adults [1, 2, 4].
Q: Is The Uprising a Robin Hood movie?
Yes, it functions as a gritty historical origin story for the Robin Hood legend [1, 4]. Set during England's real 1381 Peasants' Revolt, Andrew Garfield's character, Ploughman, leads a rebellion against unfair royal taxation in a narrative that lays the groundwork for the outlaw myth [1, 3, 4].
Q: Is there a Fortnite tie-in with The Uprising?
Despite rumors and search buzz, there are no verified in-game purchases, product tie-ins, or Fortnite crossovers attached to Paul Greengrass's 2026 historical drama [1]. Parents seeing the two names together are usually running into mix-ups with generic game event names rather than a promotion for this R-rated film.
The Uprising is an ambitious, mud-and-blood historical thriller that takes the 1381 Peasants' Revolt seriously, even when its script rushes past its own characters. Skip it for younger kids, keep the sexual assault triggers in mind before hitting play with teens, and lean into the meaty questions about revolution and mob justice if your high schooler dives in.