Black Knight Review

Only a year or two ago it wasn't unusual for movies to open on this side of the Atlantic months after their US release, but with the ready availability of US DVDS, and the internet creating a truly global village (and adding further fuel to Hollywood's paranoia about piracy), that is now the exception rather than the rule. So when a big Hollywood movie is left on the shelf for a while (and "Black Knight" was released in the US before Christmas) you're entitled to be a little wary.

"Black Knight" is a supposed comedy about Jamal (Martin Lawrence), a worker at a Los Angeles medieval theme park who finds himself transported - via a mysteriously polluted moat - over seven hundred years into the past to an England of despicable Kings, humbled knights, bearded bad guys, and damsels in distress. Unfortunately the film - which fails to give any on screen credit to its obvious inspiration, Mark Twain's "A Conneticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court" - is seriously lacking in laughs, thanks to both a script that fails to rise above the obvious and a leading man who, quite simply, isn't funny. If you want to see a modern day take on knights in shining armour that will leave you with a smile on your face don't bother with this; you'll be much better off renting last year's "A Knight's Tale" from your local Blockbuster.