We are the knights who say...this film is BRILLIANT

Rating: Null/10 (1 October 2004)

*MINOR SPOILERS*
God, how I love this movie. And perhaps even more so for being a fan of the time honored myths and legends this film so skillfully lampoons.
This is not so much a film as a collection of sketches - the narrative is not so tightly strung together as in the other Python classic, The Life of Brian, but how could this matter when there are so many moments of knicker-wettingly brilliant hilarity? There's the 'Invincible' Black Knight ("I'll bite your kneecaps off!")....the Castle Anthrax ("Can't I have just a little more peril?") and, my most oft quoted moment, the French who defeat Arthur and his knights, by first taunting them and then slinging farm animals over the castle walls. I post on message boards here quite often, and still tend to pull out "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!" as an insult when the going gets tough!
The Python's strength lies in the fact that they are masters of humour in all it's forms. They are equally at home with schoolboy smut as they are with high brow satire - and the result is a film which constantly throws the audience curveballs and leaves them wondering what to expect.
My favourite Python, the wonderful John Cleese, excels yet again in multiple roles as the noble Lancelot, the Black Knight and Tim the Enchanter, among others. You get the impression of barely contained rage hidden within Cleese's rangy form, and I often wonder how he would make the transition to dramatic performances. Robin Williams has made the jump, while Steve Martin has had less success - and they are two comedians who's on screen personas are considerably more "cuddly" than Cleese. The scene in which Lancelot storms the castle to rescue Prince Herbert from his impending wedding, believing that there is in fact a princess held captive, is a highlight for me. This is purely because of Cleese's rather gentlemanly reaction to news that he, in his onslaught, stabbed the bride's father in the head - "Oh dear. Is he alright?"
And then there's the Holy Hand Grenade of Saint Antioch. "And he, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it!" And the witch trial, featuring some incredibly dense peasants...."She turned me into a newt.....I got better!" Then there are the communist peasants..."I didn't know we had a king! I thought we were an autonomous collective!" And, of course, the Knights Who Say Ni.
Irreverent, childish....utterly hilarious. Complete class from start to finish.