A Visual Feast, A Tedious Film

Rating: 6/10 (8 February 2008)

ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE isn't golden. Expectations were high after Cate Blanchett's first foray in 1998 as Elizabeth I, but somehow this follow-up film, with the same director (Shekhar Kapur) and writer (Michael Hirst with assistance from William Nicholson), does not reach those heights. Visually stunning, with an endless array of knockout costumes for Blanchett, special effects and scenery as majestic as any that have been photographed by fine cinematographer Remie Adefarasin and a musical score by Craig Armstrong and AR Rahman - all of these fine attributes cannot cover the weak script and the general lack of character development that hampers the usually exceptional core of actors.
The portion of Elizabeth's history covered by the film is the battle with Spain, England being the only country not participating in the Holy War in Europe under the direction of King Philip II of Spain (Jordi Mollà), complete with the surprise decimation of the approaching Spanish Armada due to the heroism and commitment of Elizabeth with her people. The surrounding events include Elizabeth's dalliance with Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) and the traumatic (for Elizabeth) beheading of Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton), under the advisement of Elizabeth's trusted Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush).
Blanchett is a consummate actress and manages to inhabit the persona of Elizabeth as much with her glances and body language and silences as with the meager material from the script. She IS a Queen reborn. The remainder of the cast is adequate though shallow, and while each has very little to say they maintain an atmosphere of Elizabethan England. This is a DVD that could well be watched without the soundtrack and still be entertaining for the visual splendors. It could have been so much more. Grady Harp