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This medieval
tale of a young man's journey has all the makings of a hit - a good
guy, a bad guy, a love interest and big dollop of pop music.
Dan
Sinclair
When
William Thatcher's (Heath Ledger) boss kicks the bucket in-between
jousts, William decides to impersonate him to collect the financial
reward.
Early
success encourages him to follow his dreams of becoming a knight.
However, his path is never going to be easy for only those of nobel
birth are allowed to compete in tournaments.
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| ...the
bad guy |
We follow our
dreadlocked hero on a rock 'n' roll journey from tournament to tournament
as he juggles a love interest, a deadly enemy and each joust with
his little secret.
This film bucks
the trend of recent blockbusters - It
doesn't have an all-star line-up. It doesn't have buckets of special
effects.
What it does
have is
a fresh feeling.
The actors are not the usual crop including a spread of English
actors - Rufus Sewel (Hamlet),Mark Addy (Full Monty). The script
is witty and the director has given it his own original stamp.
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| ...and
the love interest (cheer up dear) |
Reservoir Dogs
and Pulp Fiction reignited the trend of cracking soundtracks. Romeo
and Juliet managed to incorporate modern-day Miami with medieval
prose. This film does both.
The soundtrack is worth a mention - includes artists such a Queen,
David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Sly & The Family Stone, Thin Lizzy and
Robbie Williams - none of your average period fare.
A Knight's
Tale is the Andy Warhol of the medieval movie genre. The director,
Brian Helgeland, has mixed the colours.
The soundtrack is slapped on top of the script and modern is intertwined
with medieval.
The opening joust is played out to rock 'n' roll - each contest
has an introduction fitting for a present day boxing match - the
peasants music is less ballad more football chant and a court dance
turns into a jive.
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| ...and
the good guy |
The characters
are all likeable - an oddity in modern films.
The only slight annoyance was trying to understand the bad tempered
Alan Tudyk. However, I think this was the idea.
This film's
not a brainer. It is also pretty cheesy.
However, for pure unadulterated enjoyment it's a winner - be prepared
to exercise those smile muscles and dry those eyes.
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