Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Rating: 8/10 (18 October 2007)

Almost a decade later, director Shekhar Kapur follows up his critically acclaimed Elizabeth with Elizabeth: The Golden Age which includes the ethereal Cate Blanchett reprising her role as the famous regent.
Now firmly settled into her throne, this second film follows Elizabeth facing the crisis of the invasion of the famous Spanish Armada. In addition to this she also has to deal with an internal crisis as she starts having great affection for Sir Walter Raleigh (played by Clive Owen)Â—a pirate staying at the court. She obviously is unable to marry him being that she is the Queen, and a queen who has already refused many offers of princes from all of Europe.
This is a glorious, sumptuous epic with award-caliber production. The cinematography is some of the best I have seen since Titanic, and the sets and costumes are magnificent. The sweeping score blends all the scenes together perfectly. Cate Blanchett's performance stands out from the star-studded cast as she reprises her role with a ferocious intensity.
I have only one complaint with the film. It is the fact that the director changed Elizabeth's character into a woman publicly longing and pursuing a man in ways that reminded me of a giddy love-struck teenage girl with their first crush. It seemed out of character for a regally mature, sophisticated queen who should already have experienced such things and outwardly have moved on. This film is quite different in tone as the other one. It is much tamer (garnering a PG-13 rating compared to the R rating of the other one) and more entertaining with the love story and the climatic battle at the end. Even with the change and the rather major complaint the film manages to be a stunningly produced, acted, and compellingly wrought epic piece of cinema. It makes me hope Kapur will make the third of his planned Elizabethan trilogy.