Directed by:
Shekhar KapurCinematography:
Remi AdefarasinCast:
Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Samantha Morton, Abbie Cornish, Jordi Mollà, Tom Hollander, Geoffrey Rush, John Shrapnel, Rhys Ifans, Christian Brassington (more)VOD (3)
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When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, she and her shrewd advisor must act to safeguard to the lives of her people. But when a dashing seafarer, Walter Raleigh, captures her heart, she is forced to make her most tragic sacrifice for the good of her country. Elizabeth: The Golden Age tells the thrilling tale of one woman's crusade to control her love, destroy her enemies and secure her position as a beloved icon of the western world. (Universal Pictures US)
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Reviews (9)
Don’t expect an intimate drama with characters portrayed in detail like in the first installment. Prepare for popcorn shortcuts, superficial glitter in the form of beautiful costumes and forceful milking of the audience’s emotions. Many obviously important characters disappear before the viewer realizes who they were. And the only two characters that make sense in the story (and are well played) are the villains played by Jordi Mollà and Samantha Morton. Director Shekhar Kapur is much better with darkness than with light, and he should try his hand at horror movies. The only thing Blanchett and Owen do is strike fancy poses. I’m afraid that this film was originally longer and we can only guess if it was cut down to size because the non-existent chemistry between Blanchett and Owen (the main failing of the film) was not helped by the additional scenes, or just for commercial reasons, for the consumer audience. At any rate, this resulting “fast” version is closer to Bruckheimer’s King Arthur than to the original Elizabeth.
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Nice set designs, gorgeous dresses and a great Cate Blanchett unfortunately does not a good movie make. The script is still quite crucial, and if it is not exactly simple in terms of the historical events portrayed, then it is very important to consider to what detail the creators want to go here. And they decided to go into such detail that I was emotionally absolutely detached and the only moment where one of my eyelids moved a little was the ending, where Clive Oven would have made even a statue cry. At the first glance, the viewer may think that the film may not be so bad a period drama, but unfortunately all that glitters is not gold.
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Cate Blanchett is an excellent Elizabeth, Geoffrey Rush - Walsingham (perhaps a direct relative of Captain Barbossa) - again excels and can say everything with one look, the costumes are breathtaking, the music is beautiful, the direction is pleasant, and the portrayal of the relationship of Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh (a very likeable Clive Owen) is not offensive - on the contrary, it's unforced and historically somewhat faithful... For about an hour and a quarter, it was all positives and I was convinced that The Golden Age would get a full rating like the previous film. But then it came. The Battle of Gravelines. My favorite chapter. Ouch. While it looks very nice (the digital magic is complemented with one actually-built ship, which the filmmakers designed to play an English schooner on one side and a Spanish schooner on the other side - a real piece of work, I recommend the bonus DVD), I was glad for the fire ships... But! In the film, it looks like Raleigh won the battle on his own. The script made him a Hollywood arch-hero from Pirates of the Caribbean, while Francis Drake only makes a passing appearance (he says two or three boring sentences and his name doesn't even appear in the end credits - the poor actor who will boast that he "played that Drake"), and the name Charles Howard of Effingham (it was in fact he who chose the eight people who became the firebugs) does not appear at all. The fact that only one ship of the entire Spanish Armada was damaged in the attack of the fire ships, after which the fleet dispersed and the battle, full of pursuit and shelling, was not played out until the morning, did not seem to interest the screenwriters... etc. I don't mind historical "errors" in movies like Gladiator or Kingdom of Heaven. I can tolerate them there because they (more or less) don't tell about something that actually happened. But in this case, I'm not gonna turn a blind eye. Three stars for the terrible popcorn.
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Queen Elizabeth II. Or rather, Elizabeth the First, Kapur’s "part two". Bess’s life story is so abundant, and offers a number of perspectives and can easily withstand the overwhelming quantity of adaptations that have emerged in the last couple of years. An opulent (and how opulent!), but intimate picture, shot in such a way that it seems as it was painted by the Dutch masters. And up until the execution (oops, spoiler alert) of Mary Stuart it is an amazing movie in every sense possible. But then it shifts toward the conflict with the Spanish Armada and Kapur starts to overindulge the kitschy slow motion shots of all kinds of things fluttering, waves crashing, bosoms heaving, uplifting speeches and so on. Luckily he has Cate Blanchett to back him up, who could be able shoulder two hours of completely still footage.
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The sequel to Queen Elizabeth has lost absolutely nothing of its quality compared to the first part. Once again, it is a perfect period drama with great costumes, hairstyles, music, cinematography, production design and last but not least, the great performances of Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush. Compared to the first part, where I didn't have any major complaints, I would point out here that I was a bit puzzled by the final battle at sea. It seemed a little fast to me. But whatever! In short, another example of a (nearly) perfect historical drama.
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