The running time is 2 hrs. 24 mins..
In the featured role we find Heath Ledger, a peasant named William Thatcher whose only dream is to achieve the rank of knight. Unfortunately for a man of William's status this is more than a dream, it is an impossibility. However, working as a lowly squire his master suddenly one day passes away and he rides in his place, his dream is realized, if only for a moment. This is when he and his fellow companions Roland (Mark Addy), Wat (Alan Tudyk), Kate (Laura Fraser) and of course Geoffrey Chaucer played by Paul Bettany set out to turn young William into the fictitious knight Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland.
The mood and the atmosphere of A Knight's Tale is set from the moment the film starts as Queen's "We Will Rock You" is offered up as the jousting anthem and the on looking crowd begins to stomp their feet and clap their hands to the beat. Writer/director Brian Helgeland (writer of Man on Fire, L.A. Confidential, Mystic River) seems to know exactly what he is doing as he breaths an unexpected life into a film that really could have only been successful in this particular way, which is the beauty of it, it never takes itself too seriously.
So, with all that said, and all my praise, we have to wonder if an extended cut is really worth it. Honestly I can't figure out what the motivation was for this edition or even why Sony felt now was the time to release it, but that doesn't tell us whether or not it is worth buying, or worth an upgrade for those of you that own the original release. Luckily for you I have the answer.
First for the extended cut of the film, this is depends solely on how you like to watch your deleted scenes. With the first release of A Knight's Tale it came with 11 featurettes (all on this edition), an HBO making of special (also on this edition), an audio commentary with director Brian Helgeland (was supposed to be on this edition but isn't), a music video (also on this edition) and deleted scenes (ah ha, our difference!).
That's right folks, this extended edition comes minus the expected audio commentary as well as the deleted scenes from the first edition have been plugged into the film directly and cannot be viewed individually; not exactly reason enough to spend more money if you ask me.
The additional scenes don't exactly add a lot to the film except for a few more speeches by Chaucer (Bettany) and a fireside conversation between the boys, which was, I believe, the very first deleted scene on the original release.
On a whole, the DVD works for those that don't own it already, but I honestly can't see this one selling too well considering there is really nothing new and the audio commentary is gone. What is that about anyway? If you are a Ledger fan and don't own this one already than buy away, otherwise I advise you ignore this release and be satisfied with your current copy.