Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

Cert:

Cat.no: CDR 31828

Running time: 127 minutes

Year: 2001

Pressing: 2002

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 28 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, Hindi

Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras: 11 Mini-Featurettes, HBO Special, Deleted Scenes, Music Video, Trailer, Screensaver, Weblink, Filmographies, Audio Commentary

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Director:

Brian Helgeland (A Knight's Tale, Payback, The Sin Eater, TV: Tales from the Crypt)

Producer:

Tim Van Rellim, Todd Black and Brian Helgeland

Screenplay:

Brian Helgeland

Music:

Carter Burwell

Cast:

Sir William Thatcher: Heath Ledger
Count Adhemar: Rufus Sewell
Jocelyn: Shannyn Sossamon
Geoffrey Chaucer: Paul Bettany
Kate: Laura Fraser
Roland: Mark Addy
Wat: Alan Tudyk
Christiana: Berenice Bejo
John Thatcher: Christopher Cazenove

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.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: