A Knight's Tale (2001)

Yes, I gave this movie a 10 rating. I know it isn't a movie that is going to win any Oscars or critical acclaim. It may be lacking it technical areas but what it has in spades is HEART. It is FUNNY and it packs a hell of an emotional punch for a movie that is clearly not taking itself seriously. If you are reading this review and are on the fence to watch this movie or not - watch it! It is a lighthearted film that is extremely entertaining and at the end of the day that is what watching a movie is all about! This movie will make you laugh and cry - it reminds me how amazing movies can be when done with sincerity and heart!

Before reading this review, you should know that I am only slightly biased - this has been my favorite movie since I watched it for the first time, and Heath Ledger is one of my absolute favorite actors.That being said: This movie makes me laugh, it makes me cry, and it is overall a great laid-back action movie. There is some fighting, some emotion, and unfortunately some lines that could have been delivered a bit more sincerely. But it doesn't matter, because Heath Ledger delivers. He is 100% there, all the time, completely in character and brilliant. Like always. The soundtrack is cleverly enough modern, to show how people of that time felt about their music. There aren't a lot of Middle-age movies where you see the main characters dance to David Bowie and Queen! All in all, this movie will always be very special for me, and I hope I'm not mistaken when I say that this will be a future classic. If you haven't seen it, it's worth it. And if you have seen it, it's worth watching again.

This is a wonderful movie. The mixing of 1970s music with a story set in the middle ages works. It is also a clever cinematic device. The story is excellent. The characters are interesting and their interactions interesting and dramatic. Heath Ledger is excellent as the peasant who wants to be a knight. Paul Bethany is the show stealer however. His rendition of Chaucer is the best performance in the movie. The rest of the cast is engaging as well. There are heroes and villains. The movie also dramatizes a martial art that in its day was one of the major sources of public entertainment. The movie suggests that the concept of the sports hero is neither new or unique to present times. In this respect the story has plausibility. For there was a time that games like baseball, football, etc. did not exist. So the concept of sports competition took other forms, in contests that today would be condemned as cruel, but then were considered acceptable. Then again, is two men charging at each other at full speed with lances any different then two groups of men going into each other to gain control of a ball?

First off, this medieval romp is not meant to be either a serious story or history, instead it's just basically a throwback to safe old-time wholesome entertainment, which isn't a bad thing now and again. While it is hardly original, the mix of modern language and pop/rock songs set in the "wrong" time period was different and fun and worked well with the story. The story, however, could have used a bit of editing, since two plus hours was a bit more than necessary to tell this story.All-in-all, only a lightweight, predictable and essentially conventional film, but still a reasonable way to kill some time, especially if you have to entertain both children and adults.