A Knight's Tale

Special Edition

Summary: Heath Ledger stars as a wanna-be knight whose aim is fame and fortune by winning the jousting tournaments.  With help from his long time friends, he manages to win some tournaments.  Though this is a period film, the radical mix of contemporary, current-day music is hilarious and gives this movie an interesting twist.  Those who enjoy action, adventure, comedy, and romances should give this film a try.  The picture quality is top notch and the soundtrack is one of the best Dolby Digital surround sound I've heard to date.
 

The Story

Heath Ledger stars as William Thatcher, a peasant who desires to be a knight so that he may compete in the jousting sporting events.  When his master suddenly dies, he takes the opportunity to replace him in the jousting event.  Incredibly, he wins a small prize for his performance at the event, enough to whet his desire and spark his ambition to compete in more tournaments.  With his friends and an unusual character who makes an unforgettable entrance, William Thatcher pretends to be Sir Ulrich and enlists in a number of sporting competitions.  As he begins to win some of the sporting events, he tries to win the heart of Lady Joycelyn (Shannyn Sossamon).  Will he win the tournaments?  Will he win the heart of the subject of desire?   Or will he be caught for impersonating a knight?

Though "A Knight's Tale" is situated in the 14th century, it is not your usual period film.  The music is of modern-day contemporary with the likes of "We Will Rock You".  This gives the movie an interesting perspective.  The acting performances are somewhat uneven.  Particularly noteworthy is Paul Bettany's performance as writer Geoff Chaucer, who makes an on-screen entrance you won't soon forget.  If you're in the mood for a funny and touching, action-drama, give "A Knight's Tale" a try.

The Extras

"A Knight's Tale" Special Edition DVD contains a good set of bonus material:

• Director Brian Helgeland and actor Paul Bettany audio commentary

• HBO making-of special demonstrates how "A Knight's Tale" is not the usual period film by the cast and crew. (14 minutes)

• 11 behind-the-scenes featurettes

  • "The Rock Music Scene in 1370" features the reason for nontraditional period film.

  • "Sexy Armor and a Rock Band on Tour"

  • "You Never Know What You Find in Czech Prop House" shows what unlikely props available locally.

  • "School of Hard Knocks" is a five minute segments on the exciting choreography of the jousting event, lance prop preparation, and the 8-10 weeks of training to get the stuntmen and horse synchronized.  The jousting is real and the method of the flying camera man is amazing.

  • "Tournaments - a Cross Between Pro Football and Stock Car Racing" discusses the rules of sword fighting.

  • "The Marquee Event" talks about the rules of jousting and the reason for it to be the favorite sport during that time.

  • "The World's First Sports Promoter" goes into the historical announcer dryly going down the royal lineage of the champion versus the fictional announcer for William who is more of a modern day boxing announcer.

  • "Stories for the People" features director Brian Helgeland finding the actual Chaucer in that period who writes about actual circumstances.

  • "The Rules of Love" are love at first sight, communicating through a messenger, and showing proof of love.

  • "Heath Ledger Profile" is a swift summary of his acting career.

  • "A Director's Quest" is a five minute summary of how Brian Helgeland wrote and directed this modernized period film.

• Deleted scenes with optional filmmaker's intros: many deleted scenes give more insight into the characters and storyline.  The deleted scenes are entitled, "The Campfire Scene", "Adhemar Intro", "Chaucer's Second Speech", "Riot", "Chaucer's Wife" (a good scene to leave in to show Chaucer's personal side), and "The Stocks" (an extended scene)

• Music video of Robbie Williams and Queen performing "We are the Champions" and promotional footage for the soundtrack

• Filmographies for Brian Helgeland, Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell, Paul Bettany, and Alan Tudyk.

• Theatrical trailers for "A Knight's Tale" and "Final Fantasy".

• Production notes (2 pages)

Video & Audio

The image quality of this anamorphic widescreen DVD is excellent.  The colors are accurate and saturated, while shadow detail is excellent.  The cinematography is stunningly beautiful.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is one of the best we've heard to date.  It is well balanced, with very aggressive use of the surround sound channels.  The galloping horses in the jousting scenes are very well mixed, you can hear the thundering sounds of the hoofs as the horse and jousters approach, and the sounds pan to the surround channels as they pass.  

 
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones.  Our home theater equipment was calibrated with the Video Essentials DVD.

Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year 2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.

Site updated 8.26.2008

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PDA Version /
Mobile Edition

Specifications:

- DVD-Video

- Single-sided

- Dual layer

- Region 1

- Run time: approx. 132 minutes

- Subtitle: English, French

- Menus: Animated (main menu only)

- Scene selection: Static

- Package: Keep case

- 28 chapters
 

Video Features:

- Anamorphic Widescreen

- 2.35:1 aspect ratio
 

Audio Features:

- English: Dolby Digital 5.1

- French: Dolby Surround

Release Dates:

Theatrical Release:
05/11/2001

DVD Release:
09/25/2001

Review Date:
09/13/2001

List price:
$ 24.95

On-line price:
$ 18.71

Pre-order price was:
$ 18.71

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