A Knight's Tale (1995) Brian Helgeland   Written and directed by Brian Helgeland, A Knight's Tale begins with an aged knight who unexpectedly drops dead while preparing for a joust. Facing unemployment, the knight's young squire, William (Heath Ledger), dons the armor and jousts in his lord's place. Helmed (and therefore anonymous), no one realizes that it is William who actually wins the tournament, so he decides to make jousting his profession as a ticket to the upper classes. William's prowess with the lance soon elevates him into the pantheon of jousting knights. Along the way he wins the affection of a young noblewoman, Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon), and the vengeful ire of a rival knight, Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell). As William, Heath Ledger is terrific, as are most of the other cast. Unfortunately, the film is ruined by incessant silliness, intentional yet pointless anachronisms, and a story which relies on sports movie clichés instead of striving to be inventive. The film does, however, raise the pertinent question "what is nobility?" Treachery and malice are the mark of the gentry, yet it is the commoner William who exhibits true nobility. But the film misses the opportunity for William to display any great act of courage or chivalry because the action (and therefore William's character development) is restricted to the world of jousting. (Would it not have been more dramatic for William to be unexpectedly forced into an actual battle to defend Jocelyn and his friends from hostile attackers? Would not William's adventure be a far greater one were he to learn that being a real knight means more than tournament games and personal glory?) Another flaw is the vacuous leading lady, Jocelyn. Vain and aloof, it is her untouchability that first attracts William, but he remains pathetically blind to her manipulative selfishness. He does anything she asks, and he even dishonors himself on the field to suit her whim. Considering the close proximity of a young and better-looking peasant girl, Laura Fraser, whom William has befriended, the viewer is constantly rooting for him to fall in love with her, instead. It also does not help that Shannyn Sossamon (Jocelyn) is a noticeably inferior actress to the rest of the cast, and her "Saks 5th Avenue"-style costumes are completely anachronistic. But worst of all is the music. I nearly walked out of the cinema five minutes into the film when Queen's "We Will Rock You" started playing. Alas, as a reviewer, I had to stay till the end, during which the audience was assaulted several more times by noisy pop and rock songs from decades past (the most embarrassing example being the court dance scene where Jocelyn and William gyrate like two hot and bothered kids at a freshman mixer). I cannot fathom why the director thought this music was in any way appropriate; if he wanted to help market the film to kids, it seems odd he would use music their parents used to listen to. Numbering Geoffrey Chaucer among the characters is a mildly amusing touch, though it is obvious early on that he would eventually say, "I should write this all down" at the end of the film. The jousting scenes themselves are magnificent, however, and the stunt work, photography, and editing bring this high-speed pastime into sharp relief. There are also some genuinely funny moments. But ultimately, A Knight's Tale offers little more than a run-of-the-mill sports movie plot placed in a medieval setting. —Paul Andrew MacLean

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