Director: Gil Junger
Starring: Martin Lawrence
Story rating: 2 discs (out of 4)
Story review: Jamal (Martin Lawrence) is a worker at the Medieval World theme park who falls into a moat
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and emerges in 14th-century England, a world inhabited by knights in shining armor. Once he pieces together what has probably happened, Jamal tries to find a way to go back to the future. Along the way, he finds himself inadvertently caught up in a rebellion led by a sort of medieval feminist Victoria (Marsha Thomason) against an illegitimate monarchy. With the help of Sir Nolte (Tom Wilkinson), a once legendary knight who has fallen on hard times, Jamal and Victoria plan their attack on Percival (Vincent Regan), an evil knight aware of their plans to quash the monarchy and the king’s iron rule. Jamal leads Victoria, Nolte and their army of peasants into battle by teaching them football and wrestling techniques, but when Jamal finally finds a way back to the 21st century, he must face the feelings he has developed for Victoria. Loudmouth Lawrence is great as a modern man who find his way home, but Black Knight might have been more memorable had the story wandered slightly off the beaten path. —Guylaine Cadorette, Hollywood.com
Features rating: 3 1/2 discs (out of 4)
Features review: There’s a solid assemblage of features on this DVD.
Director Gil Junger’s commentary is a decent track, even if it seems at times overly praiseworthy of the performances in the movie. Martin Lawrence chimes in for two “scene specific” pieces of commentary, which elicited almost as many chuckles and as much insight as Junger’s entire track. Too bad there isn’t more from Lawrence.
The outtakes, like Lawrence‘s comments, are hilarious and too brief, clocking in at just under two minutes. Still, it’s two minutes of really funny stuff.
There are four featurettes, most of them routine, but yet, still compelling enough to watch. One is of note, though, for its unintentional comedic value. Watching ’80s flashback Paula Abdul explain her choreography for the dance sequence is funny for those of us who remember the former pop queen in her heyday.
Bottom line: The extras, much like the movie, are never boring, even if they don’t entertain to the fullest. Still, if you are drawn to this type of comedy (or to Martin Lawrence) this is a nice purchase.
Special features list:
o Languages: English, Spanish, French
o Subtitles: English
o Commentary by director Gil Junger
o Scene Specific Commentary by Martin Lawrence
o Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by director Gil Junger
o Choreography Featurette with Paula Abdul
o Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
o Outtakes
o Storyboard-to-Scene Comparisons
o Theatrical Trailers
