William Thatcher, a lowly squire in medieval times, is give the opportunity to take on the identity of a knight when his master dies and he and his friends, Wat and Roland, are left with no meal ticket. When they meet Geoffrey Chaucer, a man who has fallen on hard times, he offers to forge documents to prove that William is a knight, so that he can enter jousting competitions to earn their keep. Passed off as Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein, William is very successful, and catches the attention of both Jocelyn, a lady of some consequence and Count Adhemar of Anjou, who is William's rival in both jousting and love. Will William prove himself to be a worthy knight? And will he win the love of Lady Jocelyn?
I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this film before I watched it, but I had presumed from the DVD jacket that it was going to be a very serious affair. Within the first two minutes of watching, I found that it was going to be very far from serious - the appearance of Mark Addy (The Thin Blue Line, Full Monty) certainly put paid to that. A few more minutes into
the film made me realise that that wasn't the only unexpected part of this film, and before long, I was hooked, unsure what was going to happen next! It is rare these days that a film surprises me, but this one certainly did.
What surprised me most about this film was the fact that it is obviously set in the time of knights and jousting - and I must say the set looked amazing to me - yet the music and the language are obviously modern day. I loved a fighting scene right at the beginning which was enacted to We Will Rock You by Queen and a dancing scene later on to David Bowie's Golden Years was inspired. Perhaps it is because this music is very much from my era that I liked it so much; nevertheless, I thought it was perfectly suited, in a really weird way, to the general atmosphere of the film, and this helped cover up the fact that the plot wasn't all that good and the screenplay, at times, was so incredibly corny it was painful to watch. I was surprised to find out later that it was written by director Brian Helgeland, who has written some much better screenplays for films like Mystic River and LA Confidential.
The film is a long one, at over two hours. This did mean that the film began to drag a little, especially towards the end when everything turns a lot more serious. This is fine if you're watching on DVD and can pause as necessary, but it could be a problem in a cinema. Then again, I can imagine that the magnificent set would look so much better on the big screen, so there are pros and cons.
I thought the performances were a bit hit and miss. Heath Ledger is an actor for whom I have a great deal of respect. I thought he was fantastic in both Brokeback Mountain and Candy when I saw them recently and I am devastated that he will never perform for us again. Unfortunately, I think he was miscast here. To his credit, he doesn't really try to be funny, he leaves that to his more comically talented co-stars, but I still felt that he was quite wooden and a little out of his comfort zone here. This could be partly due to his accent - he is clearly trying very hard not to speak with an Australian twang, and it sounds exactly like that - he is trying too hard. He does start to come into his own towards the end of the film, but by then, it was too little too late. I didn't hate the performance and it didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the film, but I was left rather disappointed.
The real star of the film for me was Paul Bettany, who is genuinely hilarious as Geoffrey Chaucer. From beginning to end, he looks as if he is thoroughly enjoying himself and this enjoyment is catching. Every time he came on screen, he filled it and I couldn't wait to see what he was going to come up with next. I've seen Bettany in a number of films, including the Da Vinci Code, but I thought this was definitely his best role yet. Mark Addy as Roland and Alan Tudyk as Wat are also good, but they just don't have the same screen presence, which, in the case of Mark Addy, surprised me a little.
Rufus Sewell plays the evil Count Adhemar, a perfect casting as far as I am concerned. He is definitely suited to playing baddies - there is something about his eyes and the set of his face that just screams evil. I thought his acting was pretty good too. I was rather underwhelmed by Shannyn Sossaman who plays Lady Jocelyn; although, to be fair, the main requirement was for her to look good and be haughty rather than anything else. Laura Fraser as Kate was much better; she gave a much more sympathetic performance that made me warm to her.
I thought this was a really original film that, although not without its flaws and being hugely corny, was a great deal of fun, something that I really hadn't seen coming. I do think that Heath Ledger was the wrong choice for the lead though, much as it pains me to say so. Nevertheless, this is an entertaining film that deserves a watch; hopefully you'll be as surprised by it as I was. Recommended.
Production Year: 2008 - Action/Adventure - Director: Christopher Nolan - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine
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
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