BLACK KNIGHT

Fox Home Entertainment

Special Features DVD, $26.98

A mysterious moat accident on the job magically transports Jamal Walker, a fast-talking maintenance worker, back to 14^th century England.  Mistaken as a messenger from Normandy, Jamal quickly finds himself in the middle of a plot to overthrow the evil king.  Armed with only his street smarts and sneakers, Jamal must find a way to rescue a damsel in distress, restore the rightful queen to the throne, and return himself to the 21^st century.      

Black Knight stars Martin Lawrence, Marsha Thomason, Tom Wilkinson, Vincent Regan, and Daryl Mitchell.  The movie was directed by Gil Junger and features music by Randy Edelman.  It is rated PG-13 with a feature running time of 95 minutes.            

The film is presented in an anamorphic widescreen version (2.35:1).  The overall quality of the transfer is very good.  Images are clean and well detailed.  While colors are intentionally subdued, they remain accurate with saturated hues.  There is nice contrast with dark black levels.  Picture defect mastering is excellent with no major flaws or compression artifacts.

Video Rating: 8 out of 10

The following spoken language options are available for this movie: English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, and French and Spanish 2.0 channel surround.  An English subtitle track is available along with English closed captions.  The English Dolby Digital 5.1 track is the basis for this review.  As with most comedic films, the overall mix of this soundtrack favors the forward channels, however this one also does a wonderful job of actively incorporating all 5.1 channels.  Dialogue is crisp and intelligible.  The surround channels are active, used for both sound effects and music, and even include a couple of split rear effects.  The LFE channel is tight and provides punch to the music soundtrack and battle scenes. 

Audio Rating: 8 out of 10

The tactile sound effects are average and present in roughly half of the DVD's 28 chapters.  Subtle and moderate impacts are the types of tactile effect that can be experienced on this disc.  The best tactile sequences take place in chapter 3 (Jamal's transportation to Medieval England), chapter 10 (Jamal's attempt at horseback riding), chapter 18 (the rescue from execution) and chapter 23 (entrance of the Black Knight).

Tactile Sound Effects Rating: 7 out of 10

Bonus features include a full-length audio commentary with director Gil Junger; scene-specific audio commentary with actor Martin Lawrence; A Timeless Friendship featurette; Parapets & Pratfalls featurette; featurette on set construction; choreography featurette with Paula Abdul; 2 theatrical trailers; Minority Report and Unfaithful theatrical trailers; 2 storyboard-to-screen comparisons; 3 deleted scenes with optional director commentary; outtakes; interactive menus and scene access.

Bonus Features Rating: 8 out of 10