Worthy production contradicts an underdeveloped screenplay

Rating: 5/10 (25 January 2008)

The second installment of Queen Elizabeth's cinematic chronicles finds all the necessary ingredients returning to impart a classy experience, namely director Shekhar Kapur and Cate Blanchett in the title role. While much of the sumptuous production inherent in such a big studio period piece certainly delivers to the eyes, the plot's bumbling maneuvers cannot help but take viewers out of most of the queen's inner turmoil this film was supposed to be convincing us of, leaving little more then a stylized costume melodrama in it's place. Blanchett, never less then admirable in any role, feels underutilized in a script that coasts by with the conviction of a glamorous history lesson.
None of it rears off-ramp too noticeably, but in general the movie will chiefly apply to British history buffs; even if massive liberties were probably taken, the specificity of these poorly developed subplots feel pre-made for those already fixated upon Elizabeth's recent resurgence in entertainment.