The Top 10 Best Knight Movies
This List is the Holy Grail of Knight Movies!
Knight movies take us back to a simpler time of honor and glory, when men died at the ripe old age of 30 and women were burned as witches for no good reason at all. In all seriousness, there’s something romantic about the whole sword and shield gig. You get that sweet armor, admiration from everyone you come across, and pretty much free reign to do whatever you want in the name of the church or king. The truth about the Middle Ages is a little less… Romantic. Let’s not dwell on things like plague, crusades, and the streets filled with feces (human and otherwise). Instead, let’s take time to honor the best knight movies that have appeared on the silver screen. The rules for this list are that the characters have to be knights and the film has to take place during the middle ages or a fictional world in a similar time period. So, you won’t see Vikings, samurai, or movies like Highlander on here. What you will see are the best knight movies Hollywood has ever given us
10. Black Death
Before he was Ned Stark, Sean Bean appeared in one of the rare good horror knight movies out there called Black Death. As I mentioned, the plague was kind of a big deal back in medieval times, and most of the time people thought witches were responsible for the deadly disease. Bean leads a group of knights to assist a monk investigating a village where people are supposedly being brought back from the dead. Of course, nothing is what it seems as the knights find themselves in way over their heads during their investigation. Black Death is a film that focuses not on the stupidity of the knights in it but their ignorance that comes from their blind devotion to religion.
9. Kingdom of Heaven
For those of you who skipped high school history, The Crusades were not a good thing. Luckily, Kingdom of Heaven at least gets that part right. The film follows a young crusader played by Orlando Bloom sent to fight against Muslim control of Jerusalem. Most knight movies paint their characters in a favorable light, because, well, they’re kinda the good guys, right? Well, The Crusades proved that things were a bit more complicated than that. Overall, the film has received a fair amount of criticism over the years from academics, but Kingdom of Heaven is a movie, not a textbook. So for the sake of this list of knight movies, I’m willing to forgive Ridley Scott for his artistic liberties.
8. A Knight’s Tale
So far the movies on this list of knight movies have been far from feel-good flicks. A Knight’s Tale is here to fix that though. It’s one of the best movies the late great Heath Ledger ever made and one that lets me fondly remember him every time I watch it. The film follows a young squire as he tries to rise above his class by entering jousting tournaments to win prizes. It sounds pretty straight forward, but it’s a brilliantly made comedy that lightens the mood with a toe-tapping classic rock soundtrack and tons of witty epigrams. A Knight’s Tale romanticizes medieval life a bit but does so in order to tell a wonderful tale filled with adventure and romance. If you’re a fan of Heath Ledger, I’m sure you’ve probably seen this flick. If you’re not then this film will make you a fan by the end.
7. First Knight
Hollywood loves them some Arthurian legends and with First Knight might be the first to appear on this list of knight movies, it’s hardly the last. After all, how could I do a list like this without bending a knee to good old King Arthur? This time around the Arthur is played by Sean Connery and he’s joined on screen by Richard Gere as “trusty” Lancelot. There’s plenty of swordplay in this film, but a cornerstone of the tale is the “special” relationship Lancelot developed with Guinevere, played by Julia Ormond. For those of you who don’t know, Lancelot totally broke bro-code by going after Arthur’s main squeeze. Don’t worry though, because First Knight is much better at being an action movie than a romance, so there are plenty of knights in it.
6. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood’s reputation took a bit of a hit recently, but he’s still one of the greatest archers to ever appear on the big screen. Before you start in on how this is a list of knight movies and not archer movies, let me remind you that Robin was actually a crusader before he became a medieval freedom fighter. There have been plenty of imaginings over the years with actors like Russell Crowe, Cary Elwes and even John Cleese taking on the role. However, for the sake of this list, I have to go with Kevin Costner portrayal of the character. He’s joined by the likes of Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, and Alan Rickman making this one of the most star studded of all the entries on this list.