A stilted but colourful costume drama...

Rating: 6/10 (5 March 2020)

Sadly, someone agreed that a sequel to "Elizabeth" was required so we ended up with this rather fanciful vehicle for a still competent Cate Blanchett but not so much for a terribly wooden Clive Owen as "Walter Raleigh". Following the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton), England is facing impending invasion by the Spanish Armada. The (largely forgivable) factual inaccuracies that dogged the first film are somehow magnified in this rather poor follow up. It really does miss Richard Attenbourgh; despite the best efforts of Geoffrey Rush and a somewhat flighty Abbie Cornish. As you'd expect, the film looks great and there is quite an interesting "making of" documentary demonstrating how the whole thing was filmed - perhaps more interesting than the film itself. Fortunately the Queen didn't live too much longer after this so we ought to be safe from "Elizabeth III"