A decent whistle-stop historical piece

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2020)

I never studied the 'Elizabethan' period at school (choosing instead to get all my knowledge about the era from 'Blackadder II!'), so I'm not entirely sure how accurate the story of - arguably - Britain's most famous queen is, but it certainly ticks off all the major beats from the latter part of her reign (to my limited knowledge, anyway).
In some ways it's actually a 'sequel' to Cate Blanchett's first turn as the monarch, however whereas before we saw her rise to power and experiences at being so young and yet so powerful, here we're treated to a far more 'mature' Queen Elizabeth II and the pressure placed on her to find a husband, while at the same time trying to suppress her own (rumoured, so I understand?) desires for Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) and the very real threat that the Spanish may well invade soon.
Blanchett already proved in the first outing that she's more than capable at portraying the royal in the period and her performance cannot be faulted here either. This is one film where a poor performance from the lead whose shoulders everything rests on can completely ruin the film. Here, as expected, she carries it off with ease and shows how even the most powerful woman of her age had many problems with her personal life and that of generally being a woman.
There are plenty of other famous faces in the case - mainly Clive Owen who is at the peak of his rugged charm, but also Geoffrey Rush. Both are excellent and perfectly suit their roles, but this film is Blanchett's baby all the way and she eclipses everyone around her at every turn.
Many people who have seen both films seem to think that the first one is better, mainly due to the fact that - apparently - it sticks closer to history and takes less liberties. However, for anyone even vaguely interested in this era of British history could do a lot worse than watch it to get a decent overview of the events of the time. Yes, many are skated over a little and everything seems to happen very quickly, but with a performance like Blanchett's it really should be overlooked. My main gripe was that the budget clearly didn't really stretch to particularly realistic computer-generated special effects during the battle scenes at sea, but if I wanted wall-to-wall special effects, I'd watch a Marvel movie.