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Black Knight
Black Knight theatrical poster
Directed by	Gil Junger
Produced by	Arnon Milchan Darryl J. Quarles Michael Green Paul Schiff
Written by	Darryl J. Quarles Peter Gaulke Gerry Swallow
Starring	Martin Lawrence Marsha Thomason Tom Wilkinson Vincent Regan Daryl Mitchell Michael Countryman Kevin Conway
Music by	Randy Edelman
Cinematography	Ueli Steiger
Editing by	Michael R. Miller
Studio	Regency Enterprises New Regency The Firm, Inc.
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 21, 2001
Running time	95 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50,000,000[1]
Gross revenue	$39,976,235[2]

Black Knight is a 2001 American comedy film starring Martin Lawrence. The film was directed by Gil Junger who has more famously directed television sitcoms. In addition to Lawrence, Black Knight had an additional cast of Marsha Thomason, Tom Wilkinson, Vincent Regan, Kevin Conway, and others.

The film was released in November 2001 and went on to gross $39,976,235^[2] at the worldwide box office. The film was shot at various locations in North Carolina. The two prime spots used in North Carolina were Wilmington, North Carolina and Carolina Beach, NC.

Plot

Jamal Walker (Martin Lawrence) is an everyday slacker with a job at a crummy theme park called Medieval World, which is receiving big competition from another theme park, Castle World. Jamal's life is dramatically altered while cleaning a moat surrounding the park. He finds a medallion in the moat and while trying to pull it from its spot he gets sucked into a past world. Awakening in England, 1328, he bungles his way through this strange new world. Armed with his modern-day lifestyle, he quickly learns he is sort of a fish out of water. He is first met by a tramp named Knolte, to whom he gets some money. The citizens of England believe him to be a French Moor, from Normandy more specifically, because of his skin color, odd dress, language, and manner.

Jamal is soon taken in by the reigning king, King Leo (Kevin Conway). He is assumed to be a messenger from Normandy who the king believes to be bringing news of an alliance between England and Normandy. Although Jamal thinks that all people around him are just the actors in a theme park (which makes him treat all of the people in a funny way), he changes his mind when he witnesses the beheading. He soon nicknames himself "Sky Walker" and, after gaining trust from the king by accidentally preventing the assassination of the king by the conspirators, Jamal is made head of security for the king. While all of this is going on, Jamal finds out about the ruthless way the king came to power by overthrowing the former queen. He finds out this information from Victoria (Thomason), a chambermaid, and Sir Knolte (Wilkinson), a former knight of the queen who has become an alcoholic and whom he met at the beginning of the movie. Through their help and his own realization of the situation Jamal soon understands he must help overthrow King Leo and help restore the queen to power. He manages to convince decimated rebels to gather their forces and overthrow the king. Then he falls asleep and awakens encircled with his co-workers and medical team who saved him from drowning in the moat which causes doubt whether he really travelled to the medieval times or was just dreaming. Also when he come back to the present he successfully helps his boss in their business. The movie ends with Jamal falling into the moat again and getting sucked in ancient Rome trying to escape lions in gladiator arena.

Critical reaction

The film garnered mostly negative reviews, receiving 13% on Rotten Tomatoes, where the "critical consensus" was stated as "Black Knight feels like a lazily constructed movie, filled with lame gags and constant mugging from Lawrence."^[3]

Awards and nominations

• Motion Picture Sound Editors
  • nominated for Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing - Music - Feature Film, Domestic and Foreign

Trivia

• Paula Abdul choreographed one of the film's dance numbers.
• The Hungarian flag with coat of arms can be seen on several occasions in the film.
• The idea that the king expects an alliance between England and Normandy is historically false, because in 1328 England was already ruled by a line of Norman kings (following their conquest of England in 1066).

Box office

The film opened at #4 at the U.S. Box office in its opening weekend.

References

External links

• 20th Century Fox's official Black Knight site
• Black Knight at the Internet Movie Database
• Black Knight at Allmovie
• Yahoo! Movies