Black Knight (2001)

Funny

this movie is pretty good. martin lawrence in medevil times is strikeingly funny. a movie the whole family can get a good laugh. a must see June 17, 2008

Martin proved the three stikes your out rule with this horrid film

There once was a comedian named Martin Lawerence who had a string of flops begining in the year 1999 with the piece of rubbish Blue Streak. He struck out again with What's The Worst That Could Happen and in 2001 he made Black Knight. Black Knight is full of bad acting, cliched jokes and it's boring. Martin made another stinker later in the year called National Security and wouldn't reedem himself until Bad Boys 2 in the sunmmer of 2003. It should be noted that Chris Tucker wisely turned down the lead role. March 25, 2008

It's Martin Lawrence going medeival.

The one thing that makes time travel movies so fascinating is how they show the cultural differences between the time traveler and the era traveled to. Throwing a Nike-wearing urbanite into medieval times might sound a bit out of place, but you do get some fun scenes. Unfortunately if it's not done the right way and the scenes that are supposed to be funny get tiresome. That is what this movie suffers from more than anything else.

Okay. You can't really expect much from a time traveling movie with Martin Lawrence in it. A Martin Lawrence comedy, no matter what genre they make it, is going to be pretty much the same. Black Knight does have some good qualities to it, but they get drowned out by... well... Martin Lawrence doing what he does in just about every comedy he's made. In other words it's funny the first few times, but how many times can you see this guy freak out over some predicament? It gets old really fast. The worst part about it is the other parts of the movie actually get interesting and you can see a lot of potential here, but then Martin starts up with his usual shtick and ruins the moment. Martin really needed to branch this character out more.

As far as making everything look and feel like a real 13th century kingdom they did a pretty decent job of it. I wouldn't go so far as to say it rivals the authenticity of movies like Dragonslayer or Lord of the Rings, but I would call it a good shot for a movie with a modest budget. That is until you start getting the music in. These people need to do their research on those long trumpets because they certainly didn't sound right. Also there is a scene where Martin Lawrence gets the local minstrels to play some Motown which ended up being not only unbelievable but just plain silly (and not in a good way). Yeah I know... Martin Lawrence and all that.

To be fair the plot and back-stories were solid. There were a couple of bumps here and there, but good enough nonetheless. I really did like how the whole movie came together in the end. You also get some good performances from Kevin Conway and Vincent Regan. Marsha Thomason does surprisingly well in spite of looking out of place in medieval England. Her performance definitely makes up for that. Martin is Martin so I can't say he really made a stretch in his performance.

Black Knight is mostly just for people who like the comedy style of Martin Lawrence. If his style gets on your nerves then you might want to shy away from this one. Still it's an okay movie if you can get past Lawrence's annoying recurring fish-out-of-water theme. Just don't expect Braveheart.
February 27, 2008

Better than most think it is.

Most People would brush-off the concept of the movie, but it's funny in most parts. The Football scenes are a trip to watch. The ballroom scene also makes me laugh when i think about it. Martin's facial expressions in this movie will have you laughing throughout the movie. 5 stars from me. December 25, 2007

No Thought Required-- **1/2 stars

Leave your thinking cap off and you'll enjoy this movie. Pure amusement. Martin Lawrence plays an assertive theme park worker with no pride or dedication toward his job, lots of self-respect but little to share in favor of others. With the advertising of a competitive park opening close by in the future, he advises the park owner who also happens to be his mentor, to divest herself of the park and retire. Annoyed, she sends him to clean the moat and he's on his way while telling his coworkers to file their job applications at the new theme park to beat the rush. Dredging the moat, he spies a gold medallion on a heavy gold chain sparkling through the debris-strewn water. He sticks his hand in to retrieve it and gets sucked into the filthy water and time travels back to the 14th century.

So begins Lawrence's journey into medieval England. Foisting himself off as the messenger from Normandy bringing news of the arrival of the Duke to wed the virgin daughter of the mean, usurping King Leo, he falls for one of the chambermaids (Marsha Thomason), who happens to be leading the rebellion against the king to reinstall the ousted queen. The supporting cast makes this movie -- from the drunken, fallen knight, Sir Knolte (Tom Wilkinson) to Princess Regina (Jeannette Wegger), King Leo's not so virginal daughter.

Some critics have poopahed Lawrence's acting abilities, but when I watch him interviewed in person and then watch his movies, I can only draw the conclusion that his acting abilities are top notch. One would almost think that the offscreen Lawrence is his major acting role, compared to the ones he portrays. Offscreen he appears intellectual, quiet mannered, almost shy. Who can say that about his performances on screen? While Black Knight won't win any awards, it's still very entertaining and to repeat, the supporting cast is terrific.

July 12, 2006

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