A Knight's Tale - Movie Review

In this day and age we are seeing famous people who have brought us joy and entertainment being taken away from us. One of my personal worst losses is Heath Ledger, whose last and biggest role in cinema is that of The Joker from The Dark Knight, a truly monumental performance that people still talk about today. He was taken way too early because that guy had not only incredible acting to him, but an almost built in knowledge of directing as well. His last role made him a legend, but if he hadn't died soon after that he could have been something even more than that. Before he was the arch-nemesis to Batman though he played more simple, yet still exciting character in one of my favorite "B-movies" of all time: A Knight's Tale.

A Knight's Tale is about a man in 14th-century England named William Thatcher (Heath Ledger) who, after his master and knight, Sir Ector, dies in a jousting match, decides to become a knight himself with the help of his other former squires, Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk). The problem though is that you need to be of noble birth to compete in tournaments and William is as low as it comes. But through training, a fake new alias of Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein, and the help of a writer named Geoffery Chaucer (Paul Bettany) he's fakes his way into tournaments and makes a name for himself. Along the way he finds a beautiful woman, forges a rivalry with a count and fellow jouster, and building friendships along the way.

Now to some people this isn't a good movie. When it first came out critics didn't like it because of its elements were out place. This film has a lot of anachronism to it, which is when people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods are included, yet out of place in a certain setting. Some said things like there should be minstrels and old instruments used for music in this movie, the clothing doesn't fit the time period, that it used modern day tropes (which they thought was lazy), and that it didn't follow history very well. Plus they also said that it was just a poor version of Rocky, but with jousting instead of boxing.

But... this was all intentional. The director, Brian Helgeland, has said in interviews that he intended this anachronism because he wanted to make a story from a time long ago to connect to a modern day audience. He wanted to have the audience feel like people back then would feel when they saw tournaments and fights like in the movie. If they were to use old fashioned instruments and music from then it would bore people or it wouldn't make them feel pumped up as he wanted them to be. Back then jousting was like football today. That's why the first song played in the movie before William's first joust is "We Will Rock You" by Queen and why the peasants are clapping and stomping with the beat. It's to get us, the viewers, excited for what's about to happen. It's not like back then, but we get the exact same feeling those peasants and lords had watching knights run and hit each other with lances.

Now I can agree, after doing research into the original The Knight's Tale from the original Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffery Chaucer (yeah, like from the movie), that this version of the story is almost completely different from the originally. But I don't mind that actually because the story is still very entertaining, it still tells a compelling story, and there is a period of six months in Geoffery Chaucer's life where he goes "off the map" and the director kind of says in interviews that this could be what he did during that MIA period of time. I feel some historical people will still refuse to accept this new story and that's okay and maybe they could have had a different title for the movie. But the movie is about a man who wants to be a knight and it's a long with lots of bumps in the road.

Back to positives, another big element of the film, besides the epic use of anachronism, that makes A Knight's Tale really shine is the characters. They all have a little bit of trope to them, but they all very fleshed out with tons of life to them! When you write characters you can use tropes, that's not a bad thing to do. But like anything if you rely on them too much it won't be very enjoyable. William is brave and loyal and determined be a knight while being a bit childish at times, Roland is more level headed and almost a father figure to the group, Wat is hot-tempered and who wants to enjoy life as much as possible, and Geoffery Chaucer is a charismatic writer, though a little big headed with a gambling problem. That's just our main group, there's also Count Adhemar with his pompous, ruthless, and cruel attitude, our noble and tricksy Jocelyn, and our hardened, but lady-like blacksmith who joins our four men, Kate. They all stand out in personality, physicality, and goals. Despite how odd the story is with its anachronism, I could understand and relate to a lot of these characters.

Not just that, but all of the characters have incredible chemistry with one another! I'll go into it at the end, but all the actors had a few weeks before shooting began to get to know each other and it was a very wise thing to do. The way everyone bounces off one another with their dialogue (which is awesome and which I'll get into more in a bit) makes it feel less like they memorized lines and more like they've all bonded with each other. In fact it's not with William making it through hard work and luck, but the main group helping him along the way and that family dynamic makes them all so loveable!

If I have to pick a favorite actor outside of Heath Ledger it would have to be Paul Bettany. Before filming started he was tasked by the director to research WWE announcers to make his character feel more big when he announced William/ Ulrich von Liechtenstein before matches. He didn't do that, instead having the director show him how it's done, but my god does he entertain! He was still able to put out epic introductions to our protagonist, to the point he developed laryngitis from all the yelling. The quips he kept giving other characters were so hilarious and he kept on being beat up by Wat/ Alan Tudyk so much it was amazing! All that flare and bravado Bettany adds to the movie is awesome, if he didn't lose his voice from this role I would propose him to be my hype man (if I was ever a famous guy).

The only character I really didn't like in the movie was Jocelyn. She didn't have much to her, yet demanded so much from William. There's a part of the film that she requests him to do something that goes against his journey and it just is painful, so painful to watch him do what she asks. Also every single, and I mean EVERY SINGLE scene she is in a different outfit. She's just this rich woman from a noble family that's gotten William's attention. They do fall genuinely in love as the film goes on, but I just don't think she has much to her that makes her attractive or even likable. A few months ago I showed this to some female friends who never heard of A Knight's Tale and they loved the whole film, but all agreed that Jocelyn was just... bad. Shannyn Sossamon wasn't bad in the film, she has lots of great deliveries of dialogue and great life to her, but her character doesn't have much to them.

On the complete opposite side though we all loved the character of Kate, the Blacksmith. Through research I learned that women could be blacksmiths back then in England, but only if their husbands where blacksmiths and also died, to which they could continue their trade. She, unlike Jocelyn, is a lot better written! She's just a side character at first before joining the group and she adds a new perspective to the team, especially when it comes to William trying to get to know Jocelyn more. Now for some other director she would become William's new love interest, but she doesn't in this film, which I really like and makes her feel more rounded out. It shows that if the the director had a female consultant we could have a had a slightly better script because there are good female characters, but not all of them are well written.

To end this off I have to talk about the jousting in the film because it's really great! The hits are exaggerated some to make them more epic with the lances almost exploding when they hit people. That's because the lances were made out of balsa wood and filled with balsa wood splinters and pasta, creating an effect of the lance appearing to hit really damn hard against metal armor. The inside, especially the pasta, would also be in the air longer, further making the effect look epic. A Knight's Tale has exaggerated action that really makes you pumped up and can get you on your feet to cheer with the crowd.

A Knight's Tale is amazing and one of my favorite "B movies" ever! Yes, it can be kind of Rocky with lances, but it's also so much more than that because it's a really attempting to bring an old kind of story to a modern audience and does so very damn well. In college I watched this film with fellow students for a class and I was the only one to know about this movie and by the end of the film we were all very happy (though my demands to see the after credit scene was denied). I would say most reviews that dunk on this movie and go see A Knight's Tale because it'll make you laugh, cry, and cheer. So with no further ado it is time for you to watch the seeker of serenity, the protector of Italian virginity, the enforcer of our lord god, the one! THE ONLY! Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein!!!

Tentative Score: 8/10

Definitive Score: 8/10

There is also a rumor about this film that blew me away when I found out about it: Apparently Rufus Sewell held the wildest parties during production. Now some of this might be exaggerated, but apparently the cops were called more than once, there may have been orgies, and members of the Russian mafia might have attended them. That is insane and I really want to know what really happened.