A stand-out

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2000)

Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and Richard Attenborough stand out in this amazing spectacle about the rise to power and early reign of England's Queen Elizabeth I. Though this has the potential to be overly violent (the only fault with BRAVEHEART), the director did not let the it slip below acceptable levels. Nominated for numerous Oscars, it deserved all of them (especially Best Actress, though I won't dwell on that) The story moves along at a pace which is neither too fast nor too slow, and the result is a well-acted, understandable yet subtle film about one of the most dramatic periods in world history.