Who's In It?

Martin Lawrence as Jamal Walker, Tom Wilkinson as Sir Knolte, Marsha Thomason is Victoria.   

Who Made It?

Gil Junger

Where's The Web site?
Black Knight

What's It About?

Jamal Walker (Lawrence) has a job working for an old theme park that is about to face some stiff competition from a newer, bigger, better competitor.  Medieval World has seen better days, but its owner is there to provide jobs for the community and a nice experience for families.  One day while cleaning the moat Jamal reaches for a shiny object, and wham…he’s not in Kansas anymore.

At first he plays along, thinking this is all an elaborate job interview.  But he figures out that this is no job interview when the guillotine falls on a man.  Before long he gets thrust into the middle of a battle to restore the queen to power.  He acts as a court jester, a messenger, and so many other individuals.  Will the Black Knight show himself?  Will Jamal get back home?  Sit back and get ready because things are about to get medieval.

Common Guy's Thoughts

As usual, I like to disclaim my personal biases going into a review.  I like Martin Lawrence; I think he is generally very funny.  That said, this movie just doesn’t do it for me.  There are times when the movie seems to get a bit too serious for its own good.  Most of the funniest parts in the film are seen in the trailers.  Sure those funny scenes are good, but they are just to few and far between. 

Black Knight is your typical “fish out of water” story that sends Lawrence back in time to a place that doesn’t have running water, toilets, and so much more.  But Lawrence does find feasts, a rockin’ band, and women.  He finds out that he can survive in the era, but it is only a matter of time until the real messenger that he is posing as will arrive and blow his story.  Lawrence’s comedy plays good, when it plays.  The problem is the amount of time that it plays on screen is very lacking. 

Don’t get me wrong; you will enjoy some of Black Knight.  I just felt that there were so many dead spots in the film that prevented it from being an extremely funny film.  The premise was there, but it just doesn’t live up to expectations.  If it intrigues you, don’t be afraid to joust with Black Knight, but don’t take a guillotine to me if you don’t like it.

Grade

C-

Parents Guide

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual/crude humor and battle violence.  There is a large amount of sexual and crude humor in this film.  So much so that the MPAA in its description listed in this paragraph felt it necessary to include this in there rating capsule.  Battle violence rivals that of some of the knight battles that we have seen in recent years on.  Most kids have seen the stuff that takes place in this movie a million times…..Overall I think most teens should be able to handle this. 
 

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