Make sure this movie doesn't muck up your history facts, as the strains of Queen's We Will Rock You rouse the crowd in the 14th Century arena.

When squire William Thatcher (Heath Ledger) finds his knight dead, he decides to give jousting a go himself.

Strangely, he turns out to be an absolute natural at it.

With a little help from the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, he fights his way through tournaments in France on his way home to England, and a reunion with this long-lost father.

Oh, and of course, there's a beautiful princess for the commoner to fall in love with.

Australian Heath Ledger was last seen as Mel Gibson's son in The Patriot. He also starred in the TV soap Home And Away and the film 10 Things I Hate About You.

LA Confidential screenwriter Brian Helgeland directs the action - complete with medieval jousts set to the rockin' Queen track - as our hero fights his way out of poverty to become a real knight.

The wannabe nobleman brushes up his jousting skills with the help of a rotund, sensitive sidekick Roland (The Full Monty's Mark Addy.)

There to stop the young jouster is the evil Count Adhemar, played by a suitably snooty Rufus Sewell.

The plot may be rather old-fashioned, and as the lances fly into the second hour you may start to lose interest.

But there's plenty of good rousing stuff for much of the audience.

Paul Betany's comic turn as Chaucer, a compulsive gambler who writes WWF style intros for the jousts, is funny indeed.

The jousting sequences themselves are high-energy and quite violent.

At the end of the day, it's a summer action flick with a little more to it than some of the rest.

The dirt and grime of the setting, the rough violence of jousting, and the, syrupy, crudely sentimental romance make an interesting combination, resulting in the film lacking subtlety, but leaving the viewer with the clear idea that anyone can follow their dream, and be a hero.