A KNIGHT'S TALE
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A KNIGHT'S TALE |
Rating -
Cast & Crew info: Domestic Release Date |
Written by DAVID KEYES
"A Knight's Tale" tries very hard to be one of the year's most
carefree good times, but its lapse in logic creates a deafening interference
for the moviegoer to deal with. Few people have probably not heard by now
about how the movie uses a classic rock soundtrack against a medieval setting,
but even fewer might not realize just what kind of intense distraction this
has on us, not just as sensible viewers but as moviegoers in the spirit
of silly summer thrills. It's great to have fun, but even the most mindless
occasions call for a little plausibility, and this is the kind of movie
that has no interest whatsoever in at least operating inside respectable
boundaries.
But for a moment, let's toss the soundtrack aside. What is left underneath?
Not much of anything, sadly. The movie is badly edited, unfocused, misleading,
boring, and clearly uninterested in establishing a central tone to carry
the elements. For one brief moment, we admire director Brian Helgeland's
ability to enthusiastically play out the story's numerous events, but
when he manages to splinter the it through action, parody, romance and
even sappy and manipulative melodrama, how in the world is the audience
supposed to react? This is the kind of movie that gives new meaning to
the phrase "you'll laugh till you cry."
The star of the picture is Heath Ledger, an admirable young actor whom
served as one of the only redeeming qualities in last year's painful war
epic "The Patriot." Here, he plays William Thatcher, an ambitious would-be
jousting warrior who seeks out to rise above his status as a mere peasant
and become the greatest knight the jousting rings of France have ever
seen. To do that, though, his identity as a servant must be protected,
and the friends that accompany him throughout his (mis)adventures help
to ensure its secrecy (one of whom is actually Geoffrey Chaucer, the author
of "The Canterbury Tales"). Unfortunately, Thatcher's prime nemesis in
tournament, the creepy Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell), knows too much about
Thatcher's actual identity and is on the verge of exposing the young soldier
for the phony he is.
The picture is like "The Mummy Returns" with the bandages removed--filled
with endless but intentional contradictions, minus a noteworthy excitement
factor and a thread of minimum common decency. We can find it possible
to live with many of the inadequacies here (even the silly Nike product
placement found within the film is forgivable), but the overall effect
is less than acceptable when we see an audience cheering to the tune of
"We Will Rock You," and a court of royalty dancing to the lyrics of David
Bowie's "Golden Years." The movie's most curious mystery, though, is how
it manages to be so careless with the setting, focusing in on the 14th
century as if poverty, heated war and pestilence were not even around
then. Plus, the movie takes place in France, and the majority of the cast
speaks in British accents. Was this anachronism intentional, or just a
mere oversight by either the writer or the director? As if an answer would
matter.
When it comes to style, "A Knight's Tale" feels very reminiscent of
Luc Besson's "The Messenger," adopting set design and costumes that are
seemingly simple but elaborate around the edges. Unfortunately, his material
feels more like an early draft of ideas than a complete script. When his
characters are not roaming through the scenery like lost dogs, his narrative
travels like maple syrup through an ice maze--slow and disoriented, sometimes
going in circles because it doesn't have clear sense of direction. Now
that I think of it, maybe it isn't so crazy that the soundtrack distracts
us from the substance. It's not like those of us annoyed by the music
will miss anything.
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