"A Knight's Tale" reminded me a lot of "Shakespeare in Love", not by storyline, but by mood and whimsy. Here one of the characters is Geoff Chaucer, just in the dawn of his literary career. The story in this film could very well be one of his "Canterbury Tales" which somehow he had never gotten into print, as were about 80% of his tales. In fact he mentions using some of his road encounters for future stories. This is a fun, entertaining film, set in the 1370s, but with modern music and, in some cases, dialog.
July 2008 edit: I saw it again last night, almost 6 1/2 years after my first viewing. Still a good, entertaining movie. I bought the DVD in memory of Heath Ledger who died a few months ago of prescription drug accidental overdose.
SPOILERS AHEAD - Although most of the film is funny, not to be taken too seriously, there are a couple of scenes nearer the end which can easily bring a lump to your throat and tears to your eyes. The first is when William (Heath Ledger) returns to his humble home (Cheapside, London) after 12 years, to see his now blind father. William had "changed the stars" by becoming a champion jouster in spite of his non-royal background, and he and his father embrace. The second is nearer the end, after William's fraud is exposed, he is thrown in prison, is in the public stocks, subject to the public's jeers and veggie toss, when the prince comes forward, recalling their earlier encounter, and knights him.
William eventually defeats the dastardly knight, and wins the beautiful Jocelyn, played by first-timer Shannyn Sossamon, a beautiful young girl originally from Hawaii, and a Terri Hatcher look-alike. She has a great screen presence and I predict we'll see her, as well as young Heath Ledger, in many more films soon.
I saw this on DVD. It is up to the usual high DVD standards, and has a nice collection of very interesting "extras", many of them showing the making of the film in the Czek republic. One of the better DVDs, overall. Anyone still watching movies on VHS are for sure living in the "dark ages" of home cinema. DVD is so much superior, what more can I say??
July 2008 edit: I saw it again last night, almost 6 1/2 years after my first viewing. Still a good, entertaining movie. I bought the DVD in memory of Heath Ledger who died a few months ago of prescription drug accidental overdose.
SPOILERS AHEAD - Although most of the film is funny, not to be taken too seriously, there are a couple of scenes nearer the end which can easily bring a lump to your throat and tears to your eyes. The first is when William (Heath Ledger) returns to his humble home (Cheapside, London) after 12 years, to see his now blind father. William had "changed the stars" by becoming a champion jouster in spite of his non-royal background, and he and his father embrace. The second is nearer the end, after William's fraud is exposed, he is thrown in prison, is in the public stocks, subject to the public's jeers and veggie toss, when the prince comes forward, recalling their earlier encounter, and knights him.
William eventually defeats the dastardly knight, and wins the beautiful Jocelyn, played by first-timer Shannyn Sossamon, a beautiful young girl originally from Hawaii, and a Terri Hatcher look-alike. She has a great screen presence and I predict we'll see her, as well as young Heath Ledger, in many more films soon.
I saw this on DVD. It is up to the usual high DVD standards, and has a nice collection of very interesting "extras", many of them showing the making of the film in the Czek republic. One of the better DVDs, overall. Anyone still watching movies on VHS are for sure living in the "dark ages" of home cinema. DVD is so much superior, what more can I say??