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When his knight-master dies without completing his jousting tournament, the peasant-squire
William Tatcher (Heath Ledger) decides to go and compete in his place. After winning this joust, William wants to go on seeking honors in such contests – wherever he could
find them – as a way of rising above his lowly station in life. He is accompanied by two loyal peasant-friends Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk), blacksmith Kate
(Laura Fraser) and Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany). With Chaucer providing him with a pretended noble lineage on an authentic-looking parchment, he is on his way. Will he be
able to take away the "crown" from the undefeated jouster Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell)? Will he win his love, Lady Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon) who is also ardently courted by
the count?
A Knight's Tale has such a mix of medieval, modern and other elements that it seems like its makers are more concerned with the movie's
marketability than with keeping such a tale fairly authentic to its times. There is the transplanting of modern rock music to the Middle Ages, even making large crowds able to
sing and dance to those tunes. Despite artistic freedom, that is quite disconcerting. A personality-changed Geoffrey Chaucer becomes a character here, whereas he is its author
(as contained in his famous Canterbury Tales). After a time, the series of joustings begin to drag on the audience because of the number and the same camera angles
used. Heath Ledger could have been made a more dynamic and livelier character, he being the focus of the saga. Paul Bettany and Laura Fraser are better actors. The movie could
have been shortened with tighter editing for better impact.
William began his quest to better his life with a lie, exposed by Adhemar. Arrested, he is
imprisoned to be executed, but someone comes to his rescue. Eventually he is rewarded for his exploits, bravery and honest efforts. Although the violence is not focused on,
nor graphically shown, the nature of the story could be better understood, and maybe appreciated by those 14 years old and above.
(Date reviewed: September 14, 2001)
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