2/5 Better script would have helped.
  by JediMack (VALRICO, FL USA)
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.

2/5 Martin Lawrence, this is beneath you!
  by jadedromantic (Houston, TX)
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".

3/5 Black Knight
  by Arnita D. Brown (USA)
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.


2/5 Pretty bad
  by
How can someone so funny be so not funny in a movie? Did the director just say, "Martin, do your thang" and turn him loose to do and say what came to mind? I agree with many of the reviewers that this movie is one of the worst comedies ever made.

2/5 What was WRONG with Martin?
  by Andre M. (Mt. Pleasant, SC United States)
What was WRONG with Martin Lawrence when he agreed to do this mess? Essentially, this is a low-grade millennium version of the 1931 Will Rogers satire "A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court", which itself was based on Mark Twain's novel. Will Roger's original film about a modern man who dreams he is transported to the middle ages was bad, but this is even WORSE! Bad acting, corny story, gross-out humor, ad nauseum. However, the scene with Martin teaching the medieval musicians to play Sly Stone's "Dance to the Music" is mildly amusing, as his outrageous speech to rally the peasants against the King (a wild mixture of Al Sharpton, Rodney King, and John F. Kennedy), and Marsha Thompson as his love interest is rather easy on the eyes. These latter factors give it 2 stars instead of 1. But if you like Martin Lawrence, stick to his TV show.