MovieChat Forums > A Knight's Tale (2001) Discussion > 'Ok, let's make the most formulaic sport...

'Ok, let's make the most formulaic sports flick....'

posted 12 years ago by sanctuary_thirteen
2 replies | jump to latest

...and the sport will be Jousting.

Brilliant. The entire movie is a ridiculous send up of every trope the late 90s/early 00s jammed into their teen-friendly fare. Opening with We Will Rock you establishes, from the get go, this is ludicrous. Once you embrace that and go with it, you find a well made, well conceived satire. It then jumps DIRECTLY into the inspirational scrappy training montage, deus ex machina after deus ex machina, its perfect. It's The Karate Kid, it's Remember the Titans, it's Hoosiers, it's Ali, it's every movie like it, but with just one change; the sport.

Is it realistic? good god no. And I am a stickler for accuracy in historical pieces (Kubrick is the only one who can satisfy some times).

If you hate it, I'm not going to change your mind. But it's not really so much a guilty pleasure as so bad it's good.

[–] sanctuary_thirteen 12 years ago

I especially love it when we see Sir Ector about 3/4 through in a flashback, an inspiring figure from William's childhood, as he's shipped off from his father. First thing I thought? "Wasn't this the guy who *beep* himself to death at the beginning?"

[–] wylierichardson-966-922691 8 years ago

I am not sure it borrows so heavily from the average sports movie. This is clearly a period piece, but meant to lure in the younger / more 'hip' audience by including rock on the soundtrack. The scene where the princess tells Heath Ledger to deliberately lose in order to prove his loyalty to her is something invented for this movie, not something normally seen in sports flicks. Secondly, Heath Ledger is not an actual knight, but merely someone trying to fill the shoes of one; virtually all movie athletes have to first earn their spots - on the school team, or Olympics, or whatever. They are almost never imposters.