Confidential; Mel Gibson's loopy amnesiac in Conspiracy Theory; or the dominatrix moll and the assassinated luggage in Payback. For A Knight's Tale, Helgeland maintains the thrill and glory of medieval tournaments while whimsically weaving in references to contemporary sporting events. The major aim of Helgeland's film is to show the similarities -- in a positive way -- between contemporary sporting spectacle and medieval pageantry. Even the movie's Web site (http://www.aknightstale.com) feeds into this crossover by providing stats for the "XJL" -- the Extreme Jousting League.