DVD/Movie Review: A Knight's Tale

 

A Knight's Tale is a movie from 2001 starring Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, Mark Addy, Laura Fraser, and Alan Tudyk. In the movie, Ledger plays William Thatcher, a squire to a man named Sir Ector, who dies before competing in a jousting tournament. Willam, along with the other squires, Roland (Addy) and Wat (Tudyk) devise a plan to have William impersonate Sir Ector in order to win the tournament and then devise the identity of a Noble named Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein for William so that he can continue to participate in other competitions. Paul Bettany, in his breakout role in the US, plays Geoffrey Chaucer, a destitute con man with a gambling problem who agrees to forge a patent of nobility for William (and to be his hype man) in return for his protection (and payment). Fraser plays Kate, a widowed blacksmith who makes and repairs Williams's armor, Shannon Sossamon plays a noble lady named Jocylen and love interest for William, and Rufus Sewell plays a count who is a rival to William both in the competitions and for Jocylen's affection.

This is a movie that does not take itself too seriously. That is evident from the opening scene, where a medieval jousting match is set to Queen's We Will Rock You. In fact, there are rock songs from the 1970s and 1980s throughout the movie. The strength of the movie is the cast. If the Joker in Dark Knight ended up being Heath Ledger's signature role, this is the one that established him as having Hollywood lead potential. His character, William, was a blend of heroic, prideful, stubborn, and naive, and he pulled them off very well. As well as adding an element of humor. 

The supporting cast was also great. Paul Bettany stole nearly every scene he was in, especially when announcing William's matches. Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, and Laura Fraser all did great in their respective roles as William's crew. I also thought Shannyn Sossamon did a fair job as the love interest, although her performance was nothing to write home about. It was one of her first movie roles, and she was relatively green. The role called more for her to look pretty than it did for an Academy Award-winning acting performance. Looking at the movie now 20-plus years later, it was definitely a breakout movie for Bettany and an establishing movie for Leger (whose breakout was in 10 Things I Hate About You a couple of years before this). It surprises me that Sossamon did not have a bigger career after this movie because, while she was very green when it came out, she certainly had the potential to be a bigger star than she ultimately became. 

The DVD has a decent amount of extras, including a commentary track on the movie with the director, Brian Helgeland, and Paul Bettany, an HBO first-look making-of special, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, trailers, cast filmographies, production notes, and more. If you have a computer with a CD drive, the DVD also includes a screen saver (which may or may not be able to be installed on contemporary operating systems).

Ultimately, the movie is not going to appeal to everyone. It does not even really attempt to be a very serious or overly dramatic movie and certainly does not try to be a historically accurate period piece. It was meant to be a fun, even silly at times movie that blended action and comedy and mixed in a little bit of drama. To that end, it pulled it off well. And if you are a fan of those kinds of movies or any of the actors involved, it is a fine way to spend a couple of hours. 

Blu Ray/Movie Review: 10 Things I Hate About You (10th Anniversary Edition)

 

This is a light adaptation of Shakespeare's play "The Taming of the Shrew". The Shrew in this case being Kat Strattford (played by Julia Stiles). It is partly a coming-of-age comedy and partly a romantic comedy. The basic plot is that Joseph Gordon Levitt's character, Cameron, wants to date Kat's sister Bianca (played by Larisa Oleynik). Their overly protective father (played by Larry Miller) will only allow Bianca to date only when Kat does. Kat has little to no interest in dating, so he thinks the plan is foolproof. Cameron hires the high-school "bad boy" Patrick (played by Heath Ledger in his first major role) to take Kat out, believing he is the only one with the guts to do so, and of course, Patrick and Kat begin to fall for each other until things go off the rails.

The movie sports a strong supporting cast including Andrew Keegan, David Krumholtz, who pretty much steals every scene he is in, Gabrielle Union, Daryl Mitchell, who is great as the English teacher, and Allison Janney as the school guidance counselor/budding romance novelist. While the movie is somewhat predictable, it is pulled off very well. The movie is pretty well-written and very well acted, blending moody teen angst with teen comedy.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, there is a 35-minute tenth-anniversary look back at the movie that combines new and archival material including deleted scenes, vintage interviews, and Ledger's audition footage. There is also a commentary track on the movie with the writers as well as cast members Andrew Keegan, David Krumholtz, Larisa Oleynik, and Susan May Pratt that is definitely worth listening to.

Overall, the movie is very good. Ledger and Stiles both shine in their roles and everyone in the supporting cast had at least one good moment of screen time. It is a fun teen comedy that while predictable holds up well now even twenty years later.

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: The Dark Knight

 

The Dark Knight has the distinction of being in a class of sequels that overtake the original movie. It is, of course, the follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, which pays off on the tease of the arrival of The Joker that occurred at the end of Batman Begins. The Joker was played, controversially until people actually saw the movie, by Heath Ledger. Internet chat rooms were lit with how horrible a casting choice it was, and as it turns out, Leger provided certainly one of the best, if not the best, live-action performances of The Joker ever. He definitely made the character his own and did not try to copy what Cesar Romero or Jack Nicholson did with other performances. I was, of course, Ledger's last full performance on film as he tragically died shortly after filming wrapped. His performance was so good that it won Ledger a posthumous Oscar.

The plot of the movie is basically Batman v. The Mob v. The Joker v. The System, all of which work with and against each other at times, and all of which are, at least to some extent, either corrupt or doing something less than righteous. The movie brings back much of the cast from the first movie, including Bale, Freeman, Caine, and Oldman. The role of Rachel Dawes was recast with Maggie Gyllenhall replacing Katie Holmes. While I think Gyllenhall did fine, I would have preferred the continuity of keeping Holmes in the role. Apparently, however, it was Holmes' decision not to return for the sequel so she kind of left everyone in the lurch. The big addition to the cast was Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, the new District Attorney of Gotham. As pretty much everyone knows, Dent becomes Two-Face, and the one change I would have made to the movie would be to have Two-Face be unleashed a bit earlier in the movie so he had more screen time. But, Eckhart did a good job with the character for the short time he got to play the full version.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the movie looks and sounds great. The extras include several making-of and behind-the-scenes features, features about the various characters, stills galleries, trailers, and more. A lot of extras for those who like to watch them.

Overall, the movie is wonderful. The acting is great, and the writing is mostly good. There are some plot points that are kind of dumb, but they are very minor. Ledger's performance was definitely the highlight of the movie, even though he was not in nearly as many scenes as it seems like he was, and it rightly deserves its praise as one of the best comic book movies of all time.