With A Knight of the Seven Kingdom’s first season behind us now, it appears topical and acceptable to look again on one other mission that’s all about knights and jousting. Having simply celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary, A Knight’s Story has gone on to grow to be one thing of a cult basic. Incorporating rock and roll music, medieval jousting, and loads of type, the movie shouldn’t really work, however general, it actually does.
Set within the 1300s, the movie chronicles the lifetime of William Thatcher (Heath Ledger), a squire for Sir Ector who has all the time dreamed of larger and higher issues. However the legal guidelines of the land prohibit the peasantry to their class, and so he and his fellow squires should dwell to serve. That’s, till Ser Ector dies in a jousting event, one cross away from victory. With empty bellies, William impersonates his fallen grasp and wins the event. They may hold the gold and go residence, however William convinces Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Alan Tudyk) to take the winnings to purchase coaching gear. William is already a succesful fighter due to years of squiring, so by impersonating a lord from an obscure land, he can enter future tournaments and alter his lot in life. With the assistance of Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany), who forges the heraldry and lineage of Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein, and Kate (Laura Fraser), a lady blacksmith dwelling as an expat in France, they type a motley crew to grow to be greater than what they got in life.
What you’ll most likely discover proper off the bat is how A Knight’s Story says “screw it!” and performs by its personal guidelines on the subject of the movie’s soundtrack. The movie opens with the tourney viewers stomping and clapping in sync with Queen’s We Will Rock Youwith herald trumpets doubling as Brian Might’s electrical guitar. All through the movie, such music acts as Skinny Lizzy, AC/DC, Eric Clapton and BTO may be heard. It’s wildly anachronistic, and it shouldn’t work, nevertheless it actually does, and the movie’s rating finds methods to usher in among the songs fairly properly, reminiscent of Bowie’s Golden Years throughout a banquet. It helps create a singular and memorable identification for A Knight’s Story. Jousting is seen as fairly rock’n’roll, so why not lean into that with the soundtrack?
The solid, for essentially the most half, additionally helps create appeal and likability. Heath Ledger does a lot of the heavy lifting as William, a starry-eyed peasant with goals of one thing higher. He’s a bit smug, and a bumbling fool sometimes, however by no means unlikeable. Rufess Sewell can also be incredible as Depend Adhemar, perpetually Sir Douche in my books. He’s vile, gross, jealous, masochistic, and nearly all the time cool and grounded, which solely makes his corruption that rather more unbearable. The place the film stumbles a bit is with Shannyn Sossamon as Jocelyn, William’s love curiosity. Stilted performing makes her scenes stand out extra, and her character simply isn’t very fascinating or likable. Telling William to lose a event within the identify of affection is wild. That may be like asking an NFL quarterback to face nonetheless and take hits time and again. Not solely is there a scarcity of professionalism, however the danger of damage will increase fairly intensely. Most of her outfits additionally really feel misplaced in comparison with the opposite characters. She feels extra according to the type of the late 90s and early 2000s pop scene, very Spice Women-inspired. So I get the anachronistic take, however since she’s the one one to decorate like this, it feels misplaced.
However A Knight’s Story is, general, a very enjoyable film. It’s received nice music, memorable characters, and entertaining jousting. Depend Adhemar is such a villain that it’s straightforward to root for William in his plight to tackle the nobles. So if A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms received you longing for some extra chivalry, then give this one a go!