REVIEWS-A Knight's Tale

"... enjoyable junk released during a season when we devour a lot of it."

A KNIGHTS TALE
Rated PG-13

Director/Screenwriter: Brian Helgeland
Cast: Heath Ledger (William Thatcher, AKA Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein of Gelderland), Mark Addy (Roland), Paul Bettany (Geoffrey Chaucer), Laura Fraser, Rufus Sewell (Count Adhemar), Shannyn Sossamon (Jocelyn).
Running Time: 132 minutes
Released: June 22, 2001

ALTERNATE REALITY Review by Lawrence Evans
HIS RATING: RECOMMENDED (*** stars)

False quotes by David Manning notwithstanding, Tale is worth seeing. Written and directed by Brian Helgeland (and not reedited by anyone named Mel Gibson) Tale stars Heath Ledger as a commoner who wants to be a knight. Tale begins after the death of the knight he served as a squire to, that knight was supposed to compete in a tournament happening before his turn came up. Ledger, along with Mark Addy and Alan Tudyk competes and wishes to continue doing so. The trio is later joined by Paul Bettany as Chaucer (yes, that Chaucer) who turns out to be necessary for the boys to continue the charade. Newcomer Shannon Sossomon enters as the love interest and Rufus Sewell is the black clad villain of the piece. His character as written by Helgeland isn't really evil; he's just a jealous snob who resents the very idea of a commoner playing his game.

The melding of modern music with the Dark Ages isn't annoying, it's sort of fun to watch them dance to Bowie's 'Golden Years'. I would not say that Tale is one of the best films of the year but it's enjoyable junk released during a season when we devour a lot of it.