Weakness?

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2007)

I liked this movie a lot, the photography was excellent, the acting was amazing and the costumes were fabulous. I think it was one of the best films of the year, easily.
However, I had two problems with this movie. First off, the soundtrack was annoying and it tried too hard. I kept thinking, 'are they going to play this the ENTIRE time?' Sometimes silence is the most powerful statement, and a fake epic always needs noise. I did not feel Elizabeth was a fake epic, so the constant background noise was unneeded.
Second, the way they portrayed Elizabeth made her seem not simply mortal, but weak. I thought how she reacted to Mary being killed was beautifully done, but Clive Owen (as amazing to look at as he is) made Elizabeth seem a weak, needy woman. She was powerful, she needed no man, that would have been the statement I would have liked to see. A woman Queen needs a man to kiss her? Hardly.