Poorly Done

Rating: 4/10 (8 November 2013)

I have had a hard time understanding why this film is so critically acclaimed. The writing is poor, it is historically inaccurate, and makes little sense. I can deal with some artistic license for historic films, but this one is so far divorced from the truth that I had trouble sitting through it. Several significant characters are not properly introduced, despite the fact that they appear in several scenes. The script was a complete mess from beginning to end. Characters are extremely melodramatic, many of the scenes that we see do not makes sense. For example (spoilers):
A dress kills one person who touches it, but not the other person who does so? (This is also an example of an extreme historical inaccuracy). When Elizabeth looks at herself with her hair cut, she proclaims herself a virgin. This makes exactly no sense. This has no basis in how people felt back then, as young unmarried virgins wore their hair down their backs, as she was featured in the beginning of the film when she was young. It doesn't even work as symbolism for other parts of the film. I found this line to be baffling.
Basically, the film is one long irrelevant mess that relies on Hollywood's idea of what Elizabethan England is, with little substance or plot.