illiam Thatcher (Ledger) is one of three lowborn Englishmen attending Sir Ector, a knight who is champion at the jousting tournaments popular in the 14th century. That is, until Sir Ector expires under a tree, leaving William and his companions--fat Roland (Addy) and choleric Wat (Alan Tudyk)--at risk of losing their livelihoods. But William, who has long aspired to a life above his station, decides to impersonate Sir Ector in the last joust of the day, even though only the noble-born may properly compete.
Familiar with a knight's training, he prevails. Roland and Wat are content to leave it at that and split up their winnings. But William has grander plans. He wants to take the money and enter other tournaments, to achieve his dream of becoming a knight.
On their way to the next big tournament, they encounter a naked man on a country road. He turns out to be Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany), an itinerant poet and sometime gambler who has fallen on hard times. In exchange for food and clothing, he agrees to forge documents of nobility for William and to act as his herald--kind of a medieval advance man.
As Sir Ulrich of Lichtenstein, William succeeds in his impersonation, winning joust after joust and catching the eye of the fair Lady Jocelyn (Sossamon). But he also raises the suspicions of Count Adhemar (Sewell), an officer in England's military campaign against the French. Notwithstanding Adhemar's taunts, William succeeds in his quest to become a grand champion jouster. He even wins the grudging respect of Sir John Colville (James Purefoy), whom he learns is really Edward, the Black Prince and leader of the English armies, who is competing incognito.
As events build to the world championship of jousting in London, William must come to terms with his masquerade and his growing affection for Jocelyn, while Adhemar threatens to reveal his secret to the world.
A mish-mash from the Middle Ages
In A Knight's Tale, Oscar-winning writer Helgeland (co-writer of L.A. Confidential) has attempted a cross-genre movie that might be described as Rocky in armor, or The Karate Kid with lances. Knight is basically a modern sports movie in medieval drag, with lots of anachronistic dialogue, music and fashions to let us know we're not talking Chaucer's Knight's Tale here.
The effect is jarring at best and downright laughable at worst. From the very opening scene--in which peasants pound their beer steins in tune with Queen's We Will Rock You--to the banquet-cum-prom scene in the middle, to the Super Bowl tournament at the end, we're in a parallel universe in which everything feels familiar but nothing feels right.
Stripped of the weird anachronisms, A Knight's Tale is an overly predictable rags-to-riches tale with pat characterizations and zero chemistry between the romantic leads. (That's ignoring the peculiar decision to outfit the decidedly non-medieval-looking Sossamon in clothes that make her look, in turns, like Patty LaBelle, Cher and Joan Collins.)
It's the kind of story in which the hero's long-lost father is blind, the villain wears black armor and there's a cute little girl to remind the hero of his roots. The jousting scenes, which make up the story's main action sequences, are nicely shot, but rapidly grow tiresome, since so little seems at stake. As Jocelyn herself describes the sport, "It's very abrupt."
Teen heartthrob Ledger is serviceable as William, but the real talent lies in the supporting cast of character actors, especially Addy as reliable Roland. Sewell is a cipher as Adhemar, and Sossamon is completely miscast as Jocelyn.
Mix in a rock score (featuring Robbie Williams singing Queen's We Are the Champions), a disco scene (I'm not making this up) and the choice to portray Chaucer as a dissipated loudmouth in a lady's frock coat, and you've got one heck of a strange movie.
