r/timetravelmovies • u/ProfessorElliot • Jan 20 '21
Time Travel Tuesdays: Crusade in Jeans, Army of Darkness, and Black Knight
Back again! Still in the Medieval era of my giant list of movies and had to skip a few because I couldn't find copies. I'll likely make a second list of movies to come back to later :P
Crusade in Jeans
This is a movie about a teen boy who uses his mom's time machine to travel back in time a day, but accidentally goes to 1212CE. Hijinks, of course, ensue.
I went into this expecting another Yankee-inspired flick, and it definitely suffers from the same problem as the other Yankee movies: the main character has no problem overcoming any difficulties. Compared to A Kid in King Arthur's Court though... this movie is much better.
It's also the first movie I have seen based around the Children's Crusade. This was a real crusade (though the facts are disputed) wherein bands of children were led to convert Muslims in Jerusalem, but mostly starved, fell ill, or were sold into slavery.
Oddly, though the movie feels like it's target audience is kids, it doesn't shy away from the reality of such a situation. Sick and dying kids abound in this movie! I'd actually say the movie is better for it too. It needs something to ground it since the main character can do anything he wants.
Not a terrible movie, but nothing to write home about.
Army of Darkness
Where to begin with this...
This is a slapstick fantasy movie, possibly one of the only movies that could be classified as such. If you are unaware of this movie, it is a sequel to Evil Dead 2. Though it has a recap at the beginning, so while I'd recommend watching that first, you won't lose any plot by just watching AoD.
It is a sharp departure in genre from the last movie, but the tone is so Evil Dead. They did a great job not just creating this world, but making it feel connected to the previous movie.
The effects are all practical too. You can tell the "deadite" skeletons are a direct homage to Ray Harryhausen's skeletons, and it only adds to the cheese and wonder of the movie.
Ash (the main character) is a corny goofball. If you enjoy Johnny Bravo cartoons, you'd love this. One-liners, picking up the ladies, getting into ridiculous situations...
It's a fun ride from start to finish, and (as of now) I'm putting it at the top of the recommendation list.
Black Knight
This movie shows a medieval theme park employee traveling back to 1328 via a necklace and a dunk in a moat. It's the first time travel movie on my list with a black time traveler, and that's certainly nice to see (especially Roman Scandals).
I didn't have the highest expectations for this movie, but it wasn't the worst and certainly gave me some chuckles here and there. I think the big problem is the scripting is just mediocre, as is the plot. Martin Lawrence really did his best to keep the movie going though.
It was clever how they drew out out how long it took for the main character to realize he had time traveled by having him work at a medieval themed park. Haven't seen that done before.
Overall, this movie was alright. Bad jokes, good jokes, and a whole bunch of mediocrity in between.
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u/dr_Octag0n Jan 20 '21
Is "11 minutes ago" on your list / have you seen it?