A KNIGHT'S TALE

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment

Special Edition DVD, $27.95

William Thatcher is a peasant squire who takes the jousting world by storm in the 14^th century.  However, he has to pass himself off as a nobleman in order to gain entry into the sport.  With the aid of his small group of trusted friends, William sets his sights on becoming world champion.  But in order to accomplish this goal, William must defeat his greatest rival, Count Adhemar.

A Knight's Tale stars Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell, Alan Tudyk, Paul Bettany and Shannyn Sossamon.  The movie was written, produced and directed by Brian Helgeland with music by Carter Burwell.  It is rated PG-13 with a feature running time of 132 minutes.           

The film is presented in an anamorphic widescreen version (2.35:1).  The overall quality of the transfer is excellent.  Images are crisp and colors are robust with fully saturated hues.  There is deep contrast and dark black levels.  Picture defect mastering is perfect with no major flaws or digital compression artifacts.

Video Rating: 9 out of 10

The following spoken language options are available on this disc: English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby 2.0 channel surround.  The following subtitle tracks are available on this disc: English and French subtitles, and English closed captions.  The English Dolby Digital 5.1 track is the basis for this review.  Dialogue is natural sounding and clear.  There is a moderate amount of surround channel activity, but it is primarily reserved for music and ambient effect.  There are a limited number of discrete channel effects, and these take place both in the forward and rear channels.  The LFE channel is not explosive, but does a good job of adding punch to the music soundtrack.

Audio Rating: 7 out of 10

The tactile sound effects for this film are average and present in roughly half of the DVD's chapters.  The types of impacts that can be experienced range from subtle to moderate.  The best tactile information comes in William's first joust with Count Adhemar in chapter 14, and in the climatic rematch that takes place in chapters 27 and 28.

Tactile Sound Effects Rating: 6 out of 10

Bonus features include an audio commentary with writer/director/producer Brian Helgeland and actor Paul Bettany; HBO making-of featurette; 11 behind-the-scenes featurettes; 6 deleted scenes with filmmaker's intros; Robbie Williams and Queen music video for We Are the Champions; filmographies; two theatrical trailers (A Knight's Tale and Final Fantasy); production notes; scene access and DVD-ROM content.

Bonus Features Rating: 8 out of 10