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A Knight's Tale

A Knight's Tale

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $11.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Fairly Poor Show
Review: Now I can forgive all the historical inaccuracies in this movie (and there were many) but what I cannot forgive is the vacuous plot that frankly came across as if having been written on the back of a Starbucks napkin minutes before shooting on day one.

Ledger seems a decent actor but here he was trying to hold this abomination together almost single-handed and failed miserably. As I mentioned, the plot was so obvious, I felt like maybe they producers had stumbled across one of my 4th grade essays and cribbed the movie from that. The acting, bar Ledger, was pretty ropey and the whole hi-hi-hilariousness of the movie failed miserably.

A pleasant watch for teens and impressionable young women I'm sure.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just plain funny...
Review: I never watch movies more than once, but thanks to my teen daughter this movie has been played in my home about five times since I saw it in the theater. I never "find something else to do". I watch it straight through every time, and it gets better with age! I find the silliness, funny references, rock soundtrack quirky and wonderful, and yet the romantic story remains compelling. Now I watch it just for the sheer fun of it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A man changing his stars makes a great flick!
Review: I thought this movie would be some mindless teen flick set to rock music.

Was I WRONG!

This movie is pure fun! The cast is great and does a wonderful job throughout the movie. The pace of the film is a smooth ride and the story is tightly woven and propelled by a great selection of music from the 1970's. This film is funny and, surprisingly, shows real heart and soul in the telling of the life of a peasant boy who seeks to "change his stars" and become someone by overturning the rules of a classist society.

The DVD is chock-a-block full of features you'll actually want to explore.

VERY highly recommended. Don't miss out on this thoroughly enjoyable movie!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very Entertaining
Review: This is a great movie of friendship, comradery and ...kicking. Filled with rock and roll coming from trumpets and modern day songs, this movie with the up and coming star Heath Ledger is a very action packed funny movie. Four stars! I can't wait for more of Ledger's films if they are as good as this one!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Halfway to Good
Review: It's the middle of the Fourteenth Century; the tail end of the middle ages, and jousting (a violent sport, that basically involves two men trying to skewer each other with huge poles, while on horseback) is the equivalent of football.

Will Thatcher (Heath Ledger) and his friends Roland and Watt are servants to a knight who regularly competes in these competitions. However, in the first scene of the movie Will and Roland find him dead under a tree. Desperate for the money their knight's win would have provided them, the three young men decide that Will will compete under the dead knight's name (which is risky because if he were found out, the consequences would be serious). However, Will wins and the friends decide to spend their money, training Will to joust, the goal being Will eventually competing in a tournament.

Will goes to the first tournament under a false name, impersonating a nobleman with the help of Geoffrey Chaucer (yes, the same Geoffrey Chaucer who wrote 'The Canterbury Tales'). He soon meets the beautiful Jocelyn who is unrealistically played by Shannyn Sossamon. Although pretty in modern times, anyone as dark-skinned and anemic looking as Sossamon not have been considered worth a second glance in the 14th century, and she wears ridiculously modern clothes on top of that.

Will also makes an enemy of Count Adhemar of Anjou, played with convincing arrogance by Rufus Sewell. Adhemar, who never accepts less than the best for himself, has set his sights both on winning every tournament and marrying Jocelyn. As Will is his only competition in both arenas, their dislike for each other is mutual.

For what it is, this movie is pretty good. I could have done without all the classic rock in medieval England, but it was an original choice of music all the same.

Ledger is one of the actors who is never outstandingly good or egregiously bad, so there isn't much to be said either way for his performance - except that it was in no way a stretch for him. Sossomon wasn't terrible in a technical sense, but something about the way she portrayed a character, who was a tad annoying anyway, drove me up the wall. The best performances were definitely those of Rufus Sewell and Paul Bettany, but they also had the most interesting characters. Sewell (who I had never seen in a movie before) was excellent as an infuriatingly overconfident and sadistic nobleman, and Bettany (whose character was an interesting inclusion in the gauntlet of types of medieval people) was realistic as a zealous and crowd-pleasing speaker.

I give it three stars, because although it lacked quite a bit, it was entertaining and somehow hard not to like.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It Rocks
Review: You'll hear a hundred complaints about different historical flaws throughout this movie. Let me point out: the film opens with trumpets blasting out the sound of electric guitars. DU!!! This wasn't created to be historically correct. This is a contemporary, action, adventure, comedy, and romance (coincidentally set in the Mediaeval world.) Now let's look at the film from some of the angles it was intended to be seen from. The Joust: The production crew spent months trying to invent different ways to fake jousting for the filming; but they couldn't do it. So they shot it FOR REAL!! Folks film just doesn't look better than this. Next the characters: The name of the story: "A Knight's Tale" refers to the knight; but the story really revolves around him and his four companions. This five-some is brilliant. A crazy literary and linguistic genius with a gambling problem, a hulking conservative right-wing Catholic, a crazy red headed bean pole who never has control of his temper and loves to eat-beyond him, a female black smith (who has no romantic entanglements with any character outside her widower husband.) And lastly the Knight. These characters were all so brilliant and so well casted that we will all believe in their existence (implicitly) not by the end of the film; but by the first few minutes. Beyond that the photography of the movie was brilliant. Often instead of having the camera make one face fill the whole screen, we're allowed to watch the whole group as they interact which makes the film so rich; even it's dialogue can be watched and re-watched many times (seeing a new thing every time). (Trust me, I've already done it.) Beyond that the music for this movie was absolutely perfect. Think Knights on horses bashing each other around what is the only type of music appropriate for that? The Best of 70's Rock. (Watch it, you'll see and hear.) Finally for the historians, don't tell me the movie should have been orchestral because they didn't have 70's rock back in the mediaeval era; you know what? They didn't have orchestral music either go check it out; that's history.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Instant Favorite
Review: This film works so well in so many ways - it doesn't take itself too seriously, the actors all look like they're having a blast - but it's not overly hokey - it doesn't make fun of itself. I admit that I'm a devotee of 'B' sword and medieval movies, and this is definitely a 'B' movie. The joy that's evident onscreen, however, raises it levels above other films like this (Hearts & Armor, for example).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: TOM SERVO? CROW? WHERE ARE YOU?
Review: Only a few select people will be able to overlook the anachronisms that assault the brain in every scene. It might have been said already, but the gang from MST3K should have been offering up commentary - it's just that bad. Soundtrack notwithstanding, there is a pub scene with electric guitar and modern dance - the princess (Jocelyn) wearing fashions from Sex and the City - and on, and on. Not one attempt was made to get anything near historically accurate, and given all the good reviews, I guess that isn't important to a lot of people.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This movie will rock you!
Review: Imagine..... it is the 1370s, and jousting is the most popular sport around. The knights are making their way onto the field, riding high on top of their steeds, looking at the arena full of people, both peasants and royalty, singing and clapping their hands to Queen's "We Will Rock You."

Say what??????????

For most people, they will either love or hate this movie based on the first ten minutes, which contains the aformentioned rock anthem. If you do decide to brave this weirdness, you will be treated to a movie that is much better than the burning that many critics gave it.

Heath Ledger stars as William Thatcher, a peasant whose dreams are much, much bigger than he is. But Williams won't let that stop him. The first chance he gets, he impersonates a knight by pretending that he is descended from royalty. Since peasants are not allowed to joust, he must continue his act no matter what. Even if that means lying to the one he loves.

The casting of this movie was brillant, but none more so than casting Paul Bettany as Geoffrey Chaucer (see one of the extras on the history behind bringing this real life writer into the movie as one of the characters). Shannyn Sossamon, making her acting debut as Jocelyn, the object of Thatcher's love, makes her presence known with every move, word, and stare. You will quickly see why Thatcher is in love with her.

This is not a movie that you can see once and pretend to understand. I had to watch it three times before I could completely appreciate what the movie is about and what it is saying. Don't let your first impression keep you from watching what is one of the best movies ever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome movie
Review: This movie was a great adventure story, I found no fault with it. The movie basically about a boy following his dream of becoming a knight and succeeding. The movie has an over all good plot, good likable characters and an ending battle that was acutally good. One thing that may be a draw back to some is that they have some classic rock songs as back ground music. I thought it actually and to the movie likabilty. Your going to have to see it to actually get a fell for it, it's one of a kind.


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