I had heard the name mentioned a few times by friends so I thought I would check it out, I paid just under £5 for this movie, the extended cut edition (I do not know what differences there are between the original movie and this edition as this is the only one I have seen but there is suppose to be over 10 minutes of additional footage). The movie wa sreleased in 2001 and is written and directed by Brian Helgeland, with a cast consisting of Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell, Paul Bettany and Shannyn Sossamon.
STORY
The movie is set in the 14th century but with a comtemporary twist. It beings with Sir Ector "resting" in the middle of a minor jousting tournament, his peasant squire William Thatcher (Heath Ledger), Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk) attempt to rouse their master but instead find him dead. Sir Ector is being called for the final round, all he has to do is stay on his horse then he's won. They haven't eaten in three days so are desperate for money, so William decides he can do this by riding in his masters place and no-one will notice. William successfully completes the tournament and wins the golden feather, a dented visor enables him to get away with not showing his face when presented with the reward.
Feeling elated from his
win, William believes he can do this, "change his stars". He now has to persuade Roland and Wat, who are content with the money they received from selling the reward for the win and believe he wouldn't get anywhere as he is not a noble. It doesn't take long and they put their money in to buying what is required. They then go on to train William in jousting and sword fighting.
On their way to their first tournament they are passed by a naked man casually walking by (or 'trudging'), they question his reasons as to why and discover he is a writer called Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany), of whom they have never heard of! He precedes to tell them that he can forge 'Patents of Nobility' and that they are a requirement for entering the tournaments. Realising William is not a noble they come to a compromise that Geoffrey would forge 'Patents of Nobility' for them under William's new name Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein, if they feed and clothe him and he continues along with them.
At the tournament William sets his eyes on a beautiful young lady and follows her asking for her name of which she refuses. He is enterred into the two contests, the joust and sword. He successfully wins the sword, but it is of a lower prize than winning the joust. The knights state tot he young lady that they will will the tournament for her, the only one that does not is William. Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell) is introduced here as he attempts to win the Lady. As William passes by to his torunament he once again asks for her name, Count Adhemar mocks William for his hesitance and armour. During the tournament William's armour becomes damaged and attempts to find a blacksmith to repair it but is unable to pay for it upfront, they meet Kate (Laura Fraser) and manages to persuade her to repair it for him. In one of the rounds William comes up against an unknown knight to which everyone forfeits against, all except William. It later transpires that the unknown knight is in fact Prince Edward, who is impressed by the fact that William does not forfeit due to being against royalty. After several wins, the Lady's lady-in-waiting finally offers her name, Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon) and gives him a token. In the jousting tournament William loses to Count Adhemar, but has already won the sword tournament so is invited to the champions dance, the problem: William can't dance so is taught by Geoffrey and Kate. At the dance he is asked to demonstrate a dance, no thanks to Count Adhemar trying to make a fool out of William even more but proves unsuccessful.
William continues through the tournaments attempting to de-horse Count Adhemar and impress Jocelyn but to William's annoyance Adhemar is sent to war. William is successful in each of the tournaments. Winning each one for Jocelyn, after winning many tournaments Jocelyn asks him to lose the tournament to prove he really loves her, which he dislikes but does so anyway. For Jocelyn to then turn it around and ask him to win the rest of that tournament for her.
The final setting, after going to different towns for each tournament, is London, William's home town. He was a small boy when he was here last and his father give the boy to Sir Ector to be his squire. This tournament also sees the return of Count Adhemar, who reveals to William he is to marry Jocelyn. While in London, William goes in search of his father John Thatcher (Christopher Cazenove) and successfully finds him, but discovers he is blind. While William has gone to find his father, Count Adhemar has sent a spy to follow William. COunt Adhemar realises he is not a noble.
There is a little bit of a twist but is a predictable ending with William successfully winning the final tournament and the lady!
SPECIAL FEATURES
The special features part of the disc include-
Behind the Scenes Featurettes : - The Rock Music Scene in 1370 - Sexy Armor & A Rock Band on Tour - You Never Know What You'll Find in a Czech Prop House - School of Hard Knocks - Tournaments - A Cross Between Pro Football and Stock Car Racing - The Marquee Event - The World's First Sports Promoter - Stories for the People - The Rules of Love - Heath Ledger Profile - A Director's Quest
HBO Making of Special
We Are The Champions music video performed by Robbie Williams and Queen
Trailers - Christmas With The Kranks - Groundhog Day - Mask of Zorro - Stripes Extended Cut
CONCLUSION
I enjoyed this film and I think it will appeal to many people, it is a very light movie not too in-depth with a comedic appeal. Sometimes when I watch it I feel it can drag on a bit, some of my friends thought that too, that could be because of the extension of the footage. The cast work quite well with each other and I believe at this price everyone should have it, I highly recommend it. The contrasts work quite well with the music of 'We will rock you' by Queen and 'Golden Years' by David Bowie, it is a very up-to-date 14th century!
The movie is rated PG with a running time of 2hrs 18minutes.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
I'm sorry for the H, but for this to be a full DVD review, I would prefer to see a review of the extras in the same detail as your review of the film, not just a list of them.
The 14th century takes a rocking new twist in this extended cut of A KNIGHT'S TALE, with ... more
over ten minutes of never-before-seen footage! The heroic action-packed adventure features an all-star cast, including Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain, The Patrio...
![A Knight's Tale [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78492130.jpg "A Knight's Tale [DVD] [2001]")
![A Knight's Tale [Extended Cut]-DVD](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/103397597.jpg "A Knight's Tale [Extended Cut]-DVD")
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