A Knight’s Tale (4K UHD Blu-ray Steelbook Review)
When A Knight’s Tale premiered nearly 25 years ago, it was a crowd pleaser and a critic puzzler. Filled with musical anachronisms, rollicking jousting and a sweet rom com for the women in the audience, A Knight’s Tale ended up being something of a box office success and a cult favorite. After spending years languishing on a nearly 20-year-old Blu-ray, with the aged wrinkles of the earlier years of the format to prove it, Sony has been gracious enough to give fans a brand-new edition of A Knight’s Tale, this time in 4K. We get not only the theatrical but also the extended cut in 4K! So, put on your armor and get your javelin ready for the joust, because the Golden Years are still ahead!
Film 
Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales story of the same name, A Knight’s Tale is the story of William, a dreamy-eyed young man who has never stopped wishing to be a knight. He works for Sir Ector, who at the beginning of our story is actually dead. Sitting stinking in a field, it is William who must step into the armor and fill the big man’s shoes on horseback. William and his pals Roland (Mark Addy) and Wat (Allan Tudyk) hatch a plan to enter competitions with William posing as a knight of noble blood.
How, you wonder? Enter Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany), who can write proof of nobility and will do so for clothing. Did I mention the boys meet him landscape walking naked? Turns out that Chaucer is a gambler who has terrible luck, and his debts make him literally lose his shirt. The unlucky gambler is a gifted writer and orator though, and he tags along to give William, now Sir Ulrich Von Lichtenstein, a big boost in credibility. After a successful first joust, William makes friends with a young female armorist Kate (Laura Fraser) and catches the eye of a noble lady Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossaman) who is bound to the church but also drawn to William…er… Ulrich.
In the way of the budding romance is Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell) who is arrogant, gaunt and interested in Jocelyn too. It’s Adhemar that drives William even further into his determination to succeed in the tournaments and win his glories. Jocelyn’s love is the ultimate prize, but his drive to be a nobleman regardless of birthright is what brings him his glories on the game field. Adhemar of course would never play fair, and he looks to expose William for the regular guy from Cheapside he is.
Chaucer’s source material was from the 1400’s and basically hails from before the “written word” so to speak. While there are some major anachronisms besides just music, the writing here aims to be a tribute and a reimagining. This script work thrusts the story into the 21st century. Brian Helgeland, known far more for his work as a writer fuses comedy with action scenes and renaissance settings with modern music to form a mashup that is somehow so pleasing and entertaining that you’d have to have a heart of stone not to find some enjoyment in what you’re seeing.
I’d say that time has been kind to A Knight’s Tale too. Heath Ledger is incendiary as William. Radiating charisma and down-to-earth charm, Ledger was a singular force that is sorely missed on screen and in the world today. His supporting players are all game too, with his sidekicks Bettany, Addy and Tudyk all game for some solid laughs. Romantic lead Shannyn Sossaman was a spirited choice, here in her first film role. She never rose to a higher place than this in my opinion, despite appearing in other films.
Critically, this was met with mixed reactions in 2001. I don’t recall ever finding myself in doubt that this would be an enjoyable watch. I was however a sophomore in high school and just discovering that my love of movies ran deeper than just merely liking them. Back then, I loved the classic rock soundtrack and the irreverent comedy mixed with the more traditional story elements. I think the way that modern and traditional were able to fuse together really complimented a timeless story so well. Now, in 2025, I still feel the same way. I am charmed by Ledger’s William along with his pals. I think his romance with Jocelyn is sweet and I am always excited to see Adhemar get his just desserts.
While A Knight’s Tale may not sit at the top of everyone’s Letterboxd top 4, It’s got to have a special place in a few movie fanatics’ hearts. Thanks to Sony, now we have a fantastic, definitive new edition to revisit. The boys are back in town, and in 4K, they will rock you!
Video
Encoding: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: 2160p
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
HDR: Dolby Vision
Layers: BD-66
Clarity/Detail: A Knight’s Tale has often suffered from a visual crisis on disc. The DVD was never great looking, with blocky textures and banding plaguing it. The Blu-ray, released in the format’s infancy was nothing special even then, and only got worse as time marched on. Now, A Knight’s Tale is anew in 4K. Sparking, stunning and better than ever before, the film is given new life in the form of detail, clarity, contrast and incredibly rendered clean imagery.
Depth: Blockiness and banding is all gone. Panning and focus is nice and clean too! It’s nice to see the film look so fluid and neatened up for once!
Black Levels: Black levels are excellent, be it for a dark, stormy day or for the blacks of clothing or armor. No crush was seen during my viewing.
Color Reproduction: Colors are often primary and basic, yet the HDR grading renders them exact and perfect. Despite the basic approach from the design aspect, the look is just as it should be. The browns and beiges of the arenas and the greys of the churches look wonderful. The same can be said for the muddy, ruddy look of Cheapside or any dingy barn or field the gang happens to be crashing in.
Skin Tones: Flesh tones are finally not an issue! No more red, ruddy or sunburned looking faces! My eyes thank you, Sony!
Noise/Artifacts: Grain is refined and in check, so the image in my opinion is spotless!
Audio
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DTS HD MA 5.1, Spanish DTS HD MA 5.1, German DTS HD MA 5.1, Italian DTS HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Mandarin (Simplified and Traditional), Korean, Italian, Portuguese
Dynamics: Dolby Atmos truly rocks your system with a new active mix that brings music up a notch, and splintering javelins all over the place. From the sounds of horses racing by to the sounds of David Bowie, Queen, Bad Company and AC/DC, the mix sounds impeccable. Nothing gets by you without that wow factor.
Height: Height channels are sonically very busy. From birds whistling and trees rustling, to the sounds of splintering wood flying up and around as it breaks, height speakers carry some discrete sounds that move from time to time around the room!
Low Frequency Extension: Bass delivers the goods for music and action beats. Heavy hits are especially present for the killer needle drops and for the galloping horses that are so prevalent in the arena sequences.
Surround Sound Presentation: Echoes and crowd cheering eat up the surround channels a great deal of the time, and how! We love the sound of an arena in a surround sound configuration and for this mix, you’re center stage!
Dialogue: Dialogue is always perfectly placed!
Extras 
Extras for A Knight’s Tale are nothing new, however there are some newly discovered deleted scenes, a gag reel and a 2nd unit photography bit. The bummer is, they’re all in standard definition. Besides that, this is a collector’s edition available only in a steelbook! As of this writing, there is not standard edition available.
Bonus Features:
Commentary with Director Brian Helgeland and Actor Paul Bettany
NEW: 5 Deleted & Extended Scenes
NEW: Gag Reel
NEW: Quill and Quarterhorse: 2nd Unit Photography
11 Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes
6 Original Deleted Scenes with Filmmaker’s Intros
HBO Making-Of Special
Queen and Robbie Williams – We Are The Champions (Music Video)
Domestic and International Trailers & TV Spot
Summary 
A Knight’s Tale is the kind of fresh take that would be much appreciated in the theaters today. Something old, something new, something borrowed – Wait… You get what I’m saying. It’s a fun movie that moves quickly and has a bunch of cool elements to get you into the story. The characters are universally enjoyable, and the villain is equally hate-able. The soundtrack is full of classics and the performance of Heath Ledger is one of the reasons we love him so! Pair that with an exceptional new transfer and audio mix from Sony and you’ve got 4K UHD Blu-ray GOLD. This is worth a double or triple dip for fans, and if you’ve never seen this, finish reading my review and click that paid link below. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much fun this film is!
Get a copy of A Knight’s Tale HERE
Adam Toroni-Byrne
Adam is a lifelong physical media collector. His love of collecting began with a My First Sony radio and his parent's cassette collection. Since the age of 3, Adam has collected music on vinyl, tape and CD and films on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray. Adam likes to think of himself as the queer voice of Whysoblu. Outside of his work as a writer at Whysoblu, Adam teaches preschool and trains to be a boxer although admittedly, he's not very good.
