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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Dom Robinson reviewsA Knight's TaleDistributed by
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A Knight's Tale
is not a film to be taken seriously. It's a low-budget and occasionally-entertaining
14th Century medieval action romp set in France about simple peasant William
Thatcher (Heath Ledger) and his desire to become a champion jouster
except that the one thing stopping him is his lack of nobility in society.
After some helpful training from best friends Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk), they bump into a nude Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) who promises to forge the requisite documents for William in return for some clothing and food. When his character is given centre-stage at any other time, his bullshit-o-meter is allowed to soar into overdrive in a bid to wow an audience and get what he wants. This film is nothing if not predictable and where there's a lack of original characterisation you can bet there'll be a fair maiden whose heart needs to be won. Enter the 'Posh Spice' of her day, Jocelyn (new-to-the-big-screen-brunette-totty Shannyn Sossamon). In addition, you just know there'll be a big final joust at the end and with Rufus Sewell entering early on as Count Adhemar and looking all sinister and taking a seat next to Jocelyn... yes, the script writes itself. The cast also includes Brit actress Laura Fraser as a different kind of forger - one that deals in metal, Berenice Bejo as Jocelyn's lady-in-waiting Christiana and, in flashback scenes with William as a young boy, Christopher Cazenove as his father John. As I said earlier, the film doesn't take itself seriously, hence the inclusion of rock music such as Queen's We Will Rock You, 5TA's Low Rider, David Bowie's Golden Years and Bachman Turner Overdrive's Taking Care of Business, as well as modern dialogue and euphamisms such as "see a man about a dog", "shite" and "a rock and a hard place" and the concept of corporate logos. |
The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and is
anamorphic and has little to complain about most of the time, but on occasion
it does look a bit too soft.
The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and in English only. Coen Brothers' regular Carter Burwell provides the incidental music and makes a good rousing job of it, but it's one that holds no surprises. The jousting tournaments contain the expected thundering of hooves, chanting of the audience and the crunch of a lance, several times over. |
The extras begin with eleven mini-featurettes, one looking at the use of rock
music in the film and why it was there, another focusing on the armour
and costumes and others taking into account various aspects on the film's
creation, the director's vision and a profile on Heath Ledger. These total
around 33 minutes of footage.
Around 20 minutes of footage showing six deleted scenes are also included, all in non-anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen, each with filmmakers' introductions and commentary as an option. It doesn't take a genius to work out what the HBO Special will be like - a 15-minute piece combining clips from the film with standard chat from the cast and director. A music video shows Robbie Williams with the remainder of Queen performing We Are the Champions, with Robbie doing his best Freddie Mercury. Two Trailers are included. One is for this film, while the other is for the animated Final Fantasy: The Spiris Within. Each trailer is around 2 minutes in length and is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The remainder of the extras show Filmographies for the main cast members and the director, an Audio Commentary from the director and actor Paul Bettany while those with a DVD-ROM drive in their PC can access a weblink and screensaver. As this is a Columbia DVD we have the usual 28 chapters, but subtitles in only English and Hindi. The main menu is nicely animated and scored with music from the film with screenwipes to the other, static, menus. Some of the latter are also scored. |
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As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
