A KNIGHT'S TALE
Starring: Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon
Directed by: Brian Helgeland
Distributed by: Columbia Tristar

Date: 5/18/01
By: Rice

    Admittedly, I never thought I would watch A Knight's Tale in the theaters. The trailer and advertisements for it looked very generic and quite frankly, pretty lame. Poor boy grows up to be an ass kicking, women wooing knight. Hmmm... sounds like every other Medieval story I've ever heard! However, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by A Knight's Tale. That may have been helped by a less than average expectation I had for it, but nonetheless, the movie ended up being rather entertaining.

    William (Heath Ledger) is one thirds of a squire group for a knight that just got permanently KO'ed in a jousting competition. Fortunately, William and Sir Ulric share similar body statures, so the squires get their compadre dressed up and on a horse just in the nick of time. Then, as the spectators chant and do the wave to Queen's "We Will Rock You", you begin to realize this ain't your parents' Cantebury Tales.

I don't know what you girls see in him...

    Indeed, A Knight's Tale's strongest moments are when it doesn't follow the stuffy traditions set forth during the 13th and 14th century. It's setting may be ancient, but its mentality is 100% modern. So, picking up the storyline, William barely holds onto the lead the late Sir Ulric had as the group of squires prance off, satisfied with their winnings... except William himself. He's seen the stars, and he's tasted the glory, and he wants more.

    From then on, the plot becomes fairly predictable. What made it entertaining was the way the script was written; a lot of tongue in cheek humor and feel-good scenes. Take for example the aforementioned "We Will Rock You" opening, or a dinner party scenario played out to the tunes of David Bowie where William courts the girl of his dreams. At first, it feels cheesy, but as the movie progresses, you realize it's just having fun. Consequently, I had a constant smile on my face throughout the whole two hours, as well as a good hearty chuckle here and there.

Apparently, David Bowie's over 500 years old, because these guys are dancing to his tune.

    Another plus was the action sequences. More specifically, the jousting sequences. As an avid reader of fantasy novels from David Eddings, I've always had a vivid imagination when it came to knights flexing their jousting skills. Director Brian Helgeland nailed those scenes down like what one reviewer I read called "heart-stopping car crashes". You have two guys thundering down with war horses from opposing ends at full speed, with tons of dust being kicked up from their mounts' hooves as they level their lances and aim to kill. BAM! Contact is made, and shards of wood are sent flying in slow motion. Whew...

    Besides the eccentric Paul Bettany, who was brilliant in portraying a poor and gambling-addicted Chaucer, there were no especially rousing performances from any of the actors. Heath Ledger plays his hunk role as well as the role can be played, and Rufus Sewell was convincingly vile as the villain. New comer (at least to me) Shannyn Sossamon played William's love interest, and she's drop dead gorgeous... like a gothic Angelina Jolie.

The jousting scenes kick thunderous ass.

    A Knight's Tale is a summer blockbuster at its fullest. Don't go and expect to be swept off your feet by a complex, weaving storyline with engaging characters. Instead, go with some friends, buy a big bucket of popcorn, then sit back and enjoy a good laugh here and there as well as some rocking jousting action and fine medieval babes. What more can a guy ask for?

Grade: B+
-- Fits the summer blockbuster genre. Lots of tongue-in-cheek humor, not to mention awesome jousting sequences.

Babe-o-meter: A-
-- Shannyn Sossamon's gorgeous in most of the scenes. There's also a cute blacksmith and some medieval groupies.