Rating: 
Summary: Lawrence Does It Just Right
Review: The only reservation I had initially was about Martin Lawrence acting over the top. It is hard to walk the fine line between a loose, upbeat comic and plain out of control insanity. But this quickly dissipated as I watched the movie.Lawrence did it just right. I enjoyed is acting thoroughly. I thought the movie was funny, and there was a good balance of spirit, goofiness, and some political satire. The premise that an English king can mistake Lawrence for a Moorish messenger from Normandy is hilarious in and of itself. From then on the laughs continue. Martin Lawrence is constantly in movement: he runs, he dances, he fights, he falls down, he accidentally ends up in bed with a king's daughter. All of this adds up to a nice fast-paced comedy. The movie is very entertaining. Neither the main hero, nor the main villain can be taken completely seriously, and that what makes it a light, hilarious adventure, which is nevertheless not devoid of a moral lesson. Some of my favorite scenes involve Lawrence losing a chess game in two half-moves and Lawrence explaining how to French kiss.
I recommend this film.
Rating: 
Summary: Better script would have helped.
Review: The main idea of this Martin Lawrence vehicle had some potential. A black, young adult, under achiever with potential gets sent back to medieval times to learn a valuable lesson. Some of the bits are funny and Lawrence shows he has some talent, but there was nothing solid enough here that to make us feel that we wanted to watch it again, unless it came on TV with the language edited. It could have even been done to be more family friendly, but it wasn't. This movie is at best AVERAGE or 2.5 stars. I'll round down to 2 stars for some language.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised
Review: I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I found it to be very funny between the one liners and the culture clashes. I agree with the other reviewers who say that if you feel this is a horrible movie, then you are taking it to seriously. It's not an Oscar contender for Pete's sake. It is exactly what it is meant to be which is a silly, lighthearted-spoof perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Rating: 
Summary: Homeboy in shining armor
Review: Last fall, when this film debuted in the theatres, there were ubiquitous billboards advertising this film. I got to rent the DVD version of this film to satisfy my curiosity; I'm now glad I didn't spend top money to see it on the big screen. At first, I thought this film would be loosely based on Mark Twain's novel "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court". However, the movie's screenplay bears no resemblance to Twain's novel. Lawrence plays an employee of a financially failing medieval-themed amusement park who inadvertently falls into the park's moat while trying to retrieve a mysterious amulet. At first, he doesn't realize he has travelled back into time to medieval England. Witnessing an actual beheading of a rebellion leader convinces Lawrence's character Jamal that he is living through the real thing. Jamal endures one life-threatening circumstance after another until he finally helps the deposed queen regain her throne from an usurping imposter. Although classified a comedy, I found few funny moments in the film. Except for a few moments when the king's musicians give a rendition of "Dance to the Music" which preceeded Sly and the Family Stone's version by over six hundred years, the scenes in the movie depict life as it was in medieval times quite well although there is no historical fact anywhere; the characters and circumstances are all fictional. If all Jamal has to do to travel through time is fall into the theme park's moat, then there will be plenty of material for movie sequels. Jamal should probably be thankful he didn't wind up in the pre-Civil War South instead of medieval England.
Rating: 
Summary: Unwatchable waste of celluloid
Review: What a mess this film is! I honestly cannot think of one positive thing to say about "Black Knight". Martin Lawrence, who can be amusing at times in other films (...), comes off here as obnoxious, crass, and desperate for laughs. The screenplay appears to have been written for the sole purpose of allowing Lawrence the maximum amount of time to act like an idiot. The premise of the story had potential. Young, stupid man from 21st century is transported back to medieval times and must deal with culture shock and different way of life before finding a way to get back home. A familiar premise, yes, but there could have been some funny moments, at least enough to make "Black Knight" watchable. However, with Lawrence at the helm, this film takes a nosedive into rude, crude, uninspired humor. As usual, Lawrence focuses on racial humor and tired sexual jokes to garner laughs (he got none from me), making "Black Knight" an unwatchable waste of celluloid.
Rating:
Summary: Martin Lawrence, this is beneath you!
Review: Martin Lawrence is a favorite of mine, and I'd missed "Black Knight" in theaters and on DVD until a friend of mine brought it over recently for me to see. I still really like Martin Lawrence, he's still a favorite, but boy was this movie a mess. Martin Lawrence plays a goofy (and goof-off) employee for a Renaissance Fair-like amusement park in southern California named Jamal, who dreams of a better life when a competing attraction called Castle World prepares to open down the road. As he contemplates this possible new job, Jamal spies a glowing medallion necklace in the fake moat at work, and in reaching for it accidentally falls in ... When he comes out again, he's been tranported to the late 14th century, is promptly mistaken for a messenger from the Duke of Normandie, and becomes the jester -- then head of security -- while all the time plotting to get into the dress of a beautiful servant girl, whom he learns is part of a rebellion to overthrow the evil king and put the rightful queen back onto the throne. When Jamal comes out of the water in the 14th-century, in jeans and a football jersey and sneakers that no one questions, I knew the script suffered from lack of common sense. Martin, good as he is, can't overcome the bad writing of a film that just never crosses the line to be believable. His clothes, style of talk, and slanguage fit right in from the beginning, and the silly sitcom-style circumstances that lead to his being made head of the king's security will just make you roll your eyes, and the cast surrounding Martin Lawrence are adequate -- but still can't make up for a script that just isn't funny. Skip this one, and turn on some "Martin" on tv instead -- and say Good Night to this "Black Knight".
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable but very predictable medival comedy romp
Review: It does not take you long to figure out what is going to happen in "Black Knight," especially if you have seen the trailer (i.e., been off of planet Earth). The opening of the film introduces us to Martin Lawrence, who this time around is playing Jamal Walker, a less than ambitious worker at a run down medieval-themed amusement park (called Medieval World). We know exactly what his problem is and that when he reaches out for that shining necklace in the dirty moat and is suddenly transported back to the 14th century he is going to learn the lesson. It is easy to dismiss this movie as "A Medieval-Theme Park Employee in King Leo's Court," because it is about as ambitious as the main character. Every character we meet is a predictable plot point: Victoria the Chambermaid (Marsha Thomason) is the lady to be wooed and won by our hero, Sir Knolte the disgraced knight (Tom Wilkins) has to find his lost honor with the help of our hero, King Leo (Kevin Conway) has to be convinced our hero is a real combination messenger and court jester, Percival the Chief Henchman of the king (Vincent Regan) has to be bested in the big battle by our hero, and so on and so forth. We know what the hero is going to do, so the chief plesaure here is going to be in how he goes about doing these things. How well does the film succeed? Well, there is a scene where Jamal tries to impress everybody by pulling out his lighter and creating FIRE! At which point an unimpressed member of the mob points out "We have fire." A similar reaction is what I had to most of the humor at this film. Yes, it was nice when we figure out what cool song Jamal is trying to teach the medeival musicians, but every movie from "Congo" to "My Best Friend's Wedding" has people bursting into song in general (and "Shrek" already did this one). "Black Knight" tries to get by on Martin Lawrence's charm, but at some point the writers need to show up and help carry the load. Every time the film tries to take a turn towards the serious, the character of Jamal never quite gets up to speed. I did not mind that Jamal basically took a Tiger out of a hat to stop Percy from cutting off his head during the climatic battle, but then we do the time-honored but totally maddening bit where the good guy turns his back on the bad guy too soon. If this was the first draft of a script then I would be saying, fine, get Martin Lawrence in here with the writers and start punching up this script up so we can make a solid little comedy. But this 2001 film has the idea and it has the star, and it decides to just coast on those two things to see how far it can get. The answer is, not beyond the SNL sketch comedy level. When you come to the conclusion that Bing Crosby's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is a funnier movie than one starring Martin Lawrence, you know that is not the best of all possible movies.
Rating:
Summary: Martin Lawrence, this is beneath you!
Review: Martin Lawrence is a favorite of mine, and I'd missed "Black Knight" in theaters and on DVD until a friend of mine brought it over recently for me to see. I still really like Martin Lawrence, he's still a favorite, but boy was this movie a mess. Martin Lawrence plays a goofy (and goof-off) employee for a Renaissance Fair-like amusement park in southern California named Jamal, who dreams of a better life when a competing attraction called Castle World prepares to open down the road. As he contemplates this possible new job, Jamal spies a glowing medallion necklace in the fake moat at work, and in reaching for it accidentally falls in ... When he comes out again, he's been tranported to the late 14th century, is promptly mistaken for a messenger from the Duke of Normandie, and becomes the jester -- then head of security -- while all the time plotting to get into the dress of a beautiful servant girl, whom he learns is part of a rebellion to overthrow the evil king and put the rightful queen back onto the throne. When Jamal comes out of the water in the 14th-century, in jeans and a football jersey and sneakers that no one questions, I knew the script suffered from lack of common sense. Martin, good as he is, can't overcome the bad writing of a film that just never crosses the line to be believable. His clothes, style of talk, and slanguage fit right in from the beginning, and the silly sitcom-style circumstances that lead to his being made head of the king's security will just make you roll your eyes, and the cast surrounding Martin Lawrence are adequate -- but still can't make up for a script that just isn't funny. Skip this one, and turn on some "Martin" on tv instead -- and say Good Night to this "Black Knight".
Rating:
Summary: Pretty bad
Review: How can someone so funny be so not funny in a movie? Did the director just say, "Martin, do your thang" and turn him loose to do and say what came to mind? I agree with many of the reviewers that this movie is one of the worst comedies ever made.
Rating:
Summary: Top Ten Worst Films
Review: This has to be one of the worst films I have seen in years. Futile attempt to be funny. In this film Martin Lawrence was a certifiable ham who failed miserably in trying to evoke even a smile of amusement. It was like watching an awful stand up comic who was bombing all over the place and just kept going on and on. I couldn't believe I even watched such an awful film. He just keeps on shooting his mouth off, unfortunately his portrayal as an obnoxious loud mouth was not funny at all. I was even wondering if he had a script or did he just blabber away whatever came to mind as they shot the film. I was even trying to find some other elements in the film that could give at least some moment of pleasure... sadly it wasn't even mildly entertaining. I can only report what I experienced, annoyance! So why did I even bother writing here.... to save some people the agony and frustration of watching the film.
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