A Knight’s Tale

Directed by Brian Helgeland, A Knight’s Tale follows 14th century squire William Thatcher (Heath Ledger) as he creates a new identity for himself as a knight and begins participating in a series of jousting tournaments. Filmmaker Helgeland, armed with his own screenplay, has infused A Knight’s Tale with a lighthearted and gleefully anachronistic sensibility that does, for the most part, prove impossible to resist, and there’s little doubt that the movie fares especially well during a briskly-paced first half that’s been suffused with a whole host of appealing happenings and attributes – with the initial emphasis on William’s training and early jousts certainly perpetuating the compulsively watchable atmosphere. (Said atmosphere is heightened, and then some, by an absolutely magnetic performance by Ledger, with the actor’s turn matched by charismatic periphery players like Mark Addy, Alan Tudyk, and particularly Paul Bettany.) It’s clear, however, that A Knight’s Tale‘s overall success is hampered by a palpably overlong running time that’s especially problematic within the narrative’s final third, as the buildup to the admittedly satisfying climax suffers from a padded-out feel that wreaks a fair degree of havoc on the film’s forward momentum – which does, in the final analysis, confirm the picture’s place as a mostly solid endeavor that probably should’ve topped out at around 105 minutes.

*** out of ****