Black Knight (2001)

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.

Fast-talking con-man Jamal Walker has big-time plans--but for now he's stuck in a menial job at a medieval theme park. After slipping into the park's fetid "moat," Jamal finds himself in 14th century England--a world of knights in shining armor, a wicked king and damsels in distress. The Middle Ages will never be the same after Jamal uses his 21st century street smarts and attitude to help a down-and-out knight and a beautiful woman defeat an evil king. Black Knight is extremely funny but slow on the on plot and not as much action as I thought. Martin Lawerence wasn't his best but he brought the laughs.

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The main idea of this Martin Lawrence vehicle had some potential. A black, young adult, under achiever with potential gets sent back to medieval times to learn a valuable lesson. Some of the bits are funny and Lawrence shows he has some talent, but there was nothing solid enough here that to make us feel that we wanted to watch it again, unless it came on TV with the language edited.

It could have even been done to be more family friendly, but it wasn't. This movie is at best AVERAGE or 2.5 stars. I'll round down to 2 stars for some language.

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This is one of the more offbeat movies that Martin Lawrence has starred in. He's a 20th century black man transported back to medieval England and the hilarity starts. He even teaches WWE wrestling moves to the natives when they rebel against the king.

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Martin Lawrence is a favorite of mine, and I'd missed "Black Knight" in theaters and on DVD until a friend of mine brought it over recently for me to see.

I still really like Martin Lawrence, he's still a favorite, but boy was this movie a mess. Martin Lawrence plays a goofy (and goof-off) employee for a Renaissance Fair-like amusement park in southern California named Jamal, who dreams of a better life when a competing attraction called Castle World prepares to open down the road. As he contemplates this possible new job, Jamal spies a glowing medallion necklace in the fake moat at work, and in reaching for it accidentally falls in ...

When he comes out again, he's been tranported to the late 14th century, is promptly mistaken for a messenger from the Duke of Normandie, and becomes the jester -then head of security -while all the time plotting to get into the dress of a beautiful servant girl, whom he learns is part of a rebellion to overthrow the evil king and put the rightful queen back onto the throne.

When Jamal comes out of the water in the 14th-century, in jeans and a football jersey and sneakers that no one questions, I knew the script suffered from lack of common sense. Martin, good as he is, can't overcome the bad writing of a film that just never crosses the line to be believable. His clothes, style of talk, and slanguage fit right in from the beginning, and the silly sitcom-style circumstances that lead to his being made head of the king's security will just make you roll your eyes, and the cast surrounding Martin Lawrence are adequate -but still can't make up for a script that just isn't funny.

Skip this one, and turn on some "Martin" on tv instead -and say Good Night to this "Black Knight".

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