A Knight's Tale

If I were to mention the name 'Heath Ledger' to you, what would be the first film that would pop into your head? Either Brokeback Mountain, or more likely The Dark Knight, for which he won almost every acting accolade imaginable. But before these roles earned him critical acclaim, Ledger starred in a historic adventure movie called A Knights Tale. While almost everyone would agree that its nowhere near his finest work, it's still a great deal of fun, and is one of my favourite Heath Ledger films.

Released in mid-2001 under the direction of Brian Helgeland (Writer of Oscar winners L.A. Confidential and Mystic River) the movie stars Heath Ledger as William Thatcher, a humble peasant who's life is turned around when he becomes a formidable jousting champion. What we get is a pretty typical rags-to-riches tale that, while showcasing nothing really new, does provide a very entertaining way to kill 2 hours.

We begin in Medieval Europe, where a group of noble squires find their master Sir Ector has passed away while in the middle of a jousting tournament. Since they need him to win the tournament so they can eat (having had no food for 3 days), and all he has to do in the final bout is not fall off his horse, William takes his place, careful not to reveal himself since only those of noble birth may compete. To everyone's surprise, including William's, he wins, and with that, his fellow squires Watt and Roland (Alan Tudyk & Mark Addy respectively) are content to go home and live in peace. But, believing that, with sufficient training, he can become a professional jouster, and attain glory and riches through his exploits. But realising that he cannot compete since he is not of noble birth, he obtains fake Patents of Nobility and competes under the pseudonym Sir Ulrich Von Lichenstein.

With his Patents, false name, unique emblem, and Sir Ectors armour, Will starts to win tournament after tournament, earning trophies, horses and respect. When his armour is broken, he obtains revolutionary new armour from a blacksmith called Kate (Laura Fraser), as well as another addition to his team.

In the final bout of his first tournament, he competes against Count Adhemar (a nasty Rufus Sewell), who becomes the films antagonist. After losing to him, Will vows to defeat him during their next encounter. Unfortunately, Adhemar is forged to withdraw from jousting, making Will feel that his subsequent wins are hollow & meaningless.

Why so serious?

In the course of the film, Will falls in love with a noblewoman Jocelyn (Shannon Sossamon), and continues to peruse her, eventually winning her love after nearly losing a tournament in Paris.

I don't want to say much more about the story for several reason. Firstly, I don't want to spoil it for you. Secondly, because you can probably guess how it goes from here. And lastly, because I've already described most of the film anyway. It follows a pretty repetitive pattern. Will jousts, he talks to/about Jocelyn, jousts, talks to/about Jocelyn etc etc. It follows a very conventional formula for almost everything: Story, characters, plot twists, the happy, everything worked out OK ending, even the romance is pretty mundane. Jocelyn does nothing to earn Will's affection. He just see her and thinks 'Wow, she's hot. I must be in love'.

With all that in mind, you may be inclined to avoid this mostly unoriginal and, at times, fairly recurrent flick. But if you're after movie that you don't have to analyse and think about to much, it's definitely work a look. The set's look nice, the jousting is enjoyable, the characters, while nothing new, are likeable and engaging, and the final joust actually gets me a little choked up. So if your a Heath Ledger fan, give it a shot. Just don't compare it to The Dark Knight, or you'll be very disappointed.