 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
Well you can certainly say I got to see a lot of bare asses in A Knight’s Tale. Now did I really want to see the ass of this skinny guy Paul Bettany who was Geoffrey Chaucer? I am stuck on that one because I am still trying to figure out how Chaucer got into this film starring Heath Ledger (The Patriot) as William/ Orrick of Liechtenstein. Every time I hear his name I think of a vacuum cleaner, don’t ask me why? I guess you can say I am still stuck on many issues from this film. Not a good sign if there’re too many distractions. Let’s try to figure out the time period. The game of jousting was fairly new, say less than 50 years old, and only Knights, Lords and royalty were allowed to participate. So I am guessing since Chaucer is a main character that this time period is somewhere in the mid 1400’s. Now that we have established the time frame I can get over other historical issues like referring to Quasimoto when Victor Hugo didn’t write The Hunch Back of Notre Dame until 1831. I do realize most of these references were to be funny but some just appeared asinine. Now that I have vented here is the plot. A young peasant takes up the identity of his master after the knight goes off and dies before completing the jousting competition. He doesn’t assume the knights name but takes on the name of Orrick of Liechtenstein, a small country so who would ever know? He finishes the joust, but doesn’t win. The money though is enough to buy training and armor then move on to the next big match. On the way to the match William and his servants/friends meet up with a naked Chaucer who claims to have been robbed. In exchange for clothes and some food Chaucer agrees to forge pedigree papers to allow William to pass the lineage test at the match. Later at the match it turns out Chaucer didn’t get robbed, instead he is a gambler and a bad one at that. Naked once again he tells his debtors that his master will cover his debts. William does not have the money, but asks for a chance to win the money to save Chaucer. During all this he meets a princess named Jocelyn played by Shannyn Sossamon, falls in love with her, and then gets beat by the current champ, Count Adhemar played by Rufus Sewell (Dangerous Beauty & Dark City) who is also pursuing the lovely Jocelyn. William also learns to dance, has new, experimental armor with a familiar logo etched into it made and goes on to compete in many other tournaments. I am thrown back with too many references to modern day activities at sporting events, modern day music being sung in the stands and historical facts getting twisted. I know it was meant to be funny but I felt took away from a decent story line. A Knight’s Tale was written and directed by Brian Helgeland (last directed Payback). The naked Chaucer might have been entertaining but did not help to the rating. Still A Knight’s Tale was entertaining as stories go. I gave this film a six on the About-Movies.com rating, even though I did see some bare ass, but yuk. See ya.
Last updated: Saturday, October 28, 2006 05:37:38 PM |
