Intermission: Anachronistic music offsets 'Knight's' predictability

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|bold_on|"A Knight's Tale"|bold_on||ret||ret||tab|

|bold_on|Directed by: Brian Helgeland|bold_on||ret||ret||tab|

|bold_on|Starring: Heath Ledger, Rufus Sewell, Shannyn Sossamon|bold_on||ret||ret||tab|

|bold_on|Rated: PG-13|ret||ret||tab|

It would not be out of character for director Brian Helgeland's latest film, "A Knight's Tale," to begin, "Once upon a time ..." and end, "... they lived happily ever after." The story is painted in such broad strokes as to qualify as a recently reinvented fairy tale. Or maybe a reworking of one of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." |ret||ret||tab|

Chaucer himself is a character here, a writer who declares he must write this story down for all to share. |ret||ret||tab|

While not a movie that stirs deep thought or insights, "A Knight's Tale" is decent entertainment that should find a wide audience, from teenage males who dream of battle and conquest to older generations who appreciate a basic love story, with ye olde chivalry thrown in.|ret||ret||tab|

A gimmick that seems to be catching on of late in Hollywood, and here, is the anachronistic soundtrack. Knights of old are juxtaposed against music such as Thin Lizzy's "The Boys are Back in Town." |ret||ret||tab|

In its most effective use, we see a group of spectators at the jousting arena doing the wave and signing to the sports anthem de rigeur, Queen's "We Will Rock You." |ret||ret||tab|

My only complaint about this is I wanted more. Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" would have been great as knights are knocked silly during tournament play, or how about Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for an establishing shot of the arena and the crowd?|ret||ret||tab|

The story opens with three squires attending their knight, Sir Hector, who is dead. If he doesn't show up immediately for his jousting match, he will forfeit. |ret||ret||tab|

The squires are hungry and can only eat with winnings from the tournament, but only those of noble birth are allowed to participate, so squire William Thatcher dons Sir Hector's armor. He proceeds to win the games and enough money so that he and his two cohorts can eat. |ret||ret||tab|

After the match William assumes the nobleman's role to enter more tournaments. A big problem: proof of nobility.|ret||ret||tab|

The snag is solved when the trio happen upon a man walking naked along the same road. He turns out to be young Geoffrey Chaucer, who, for a price, can whip up some authentic looking "patents of nobility." William becomes a nobleman from Gelderland, and the group, now a quartet, head off to enter jousting tournaments throughout the land.|ret||ret||tab|

Of course William becomes a world renowned jouster and along the way falls head over heels for the beautiful princess Jocelyn, acquires an arch-enemy in one Count Adhemar, befriends an undercover prince and eventually returns to the place of his birth to show his father that he has indeed "changed his stars."|ret||ret||tab|

The world jousting tournament is being held in London, William's hometown, and when he sets off to see his father, Count Adhemar follows and learns that William has been impersonating a nobleman all along. William is arrested and put in the stocks, but (this is a fairy tale, remember) he has gained the respect of someone powerful earlier in the story who comes along at just the right time. No need to give the ending away, but it's a foregone conclusion from the first frame.|ret||ret||tab|

I wasn't holding out much hope for "A Knight's Tale," but I had a good time seeing it. The clever use of music and the Chaucer plot device make for a fairly entertaining, if predictable, couple of hours. |ret||ret||tab|

Other good news: "Chocolat," one of the finest films of the past year is in major re-release and playing two local theaters (Campbell Cine 16 and The Town and Country), "Traffic" is playing at The Palace, where tickets are inexpensive, and The Palace is also showing "You Can Count on Me," another of the best films of 2000. |ret||ret||tab|

|bold_on|(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)|bold_on||ret||ret||tab|

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