Amazon.co.uk Review
Elizabeth: The Golden Age may not have been bestowed with a similar shower of awards (nor quite as glowing critical reaction) as its predecessor. But don't be fooled: this is a terrific costume drama, and one that very much leaves you hoping for the hinted-at third installment.
Once again starring Cate Blanchett in the title role, Elizabeth: The Golden Age sees events pick up with her very well established on the throne. It's a new set of problems and issues that present themselves, with the impending threat of the Spanish Armada, and the scheming Mary, Queen Of Scots (brilliantly played by the always-terrific Samantha Morton) foremost in her mind.
That is, of course, apart from Sir Walter Raleigh, played by Clive Owen. Elizabeth: The Golden Age adds a potential romance for the virgin Queen, one that she struggles to come to terms with. And in the capable hands of returning director Shekhar Kapur, these many threads are woven together skillfully and a willingness to break the conventions of the period drama.
The star attraction remains Blanchett again, of course, whose performance is just as striking and textured as it was nearly a decade before. Elizabeth: The Golden Age may have an impressive cast, but all of them must have known they were on a hiding to nothing going up against the majesty (in more than one sense) of Blanchett. Because while the film itself does have a problems, it's still better than you may have been led to believe, and boasts a tour-de-force central performance that you simply won't see matched very often at all. --Jon Foster
Customer Reviews:
Close, but no cigar.......2008-03-14
Elizabeth is a truly first class piece of movie making but sadly this sequel is not; it's not a bad film, but with such a hard act to follow, it is a big disappointment. Where its predecessor delivers the intrigue, treachery and sudden violence of the Tudor Court in an uncomfortably believable fashion, the sequel, despite borrowing heavily from the same formula, fails to deliver a similar illusion and sense of proximity.
I agree with others that the treatment of the Armada was questionable; a hugely significant event in European history was played out almost on the margins and why did Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh appear to be running the show when the actual fleet commanders were Howard, Hawkins and Drake? Characters unheard and unseen in the film. More inexplicably, why promote Owen to inaccurate and undeserved prominence when his typically wooden 'acting' was the only truly obvious flaw in the film?
All things considered, this sequel is worth watching. Sequels almost always fall short of their predecessor and often by a huge margin. Thankfully this one is makes it close, close, but no cigar.
Comedy, high drama, farce, epic, swashbuckler - very confusing.......2008-03-13
I am a fan of the story of Elizabeth and really enjoyed both the Helen Mirren version and the first Cate Blanchet attempt. However, this movie is very confusing being partly an historical drama, partly a B-movie 1950's epic and partly a swashbuckling attempt to recreate 1940's Hollywood. The first part was very good with some excellent acting - with some caveats. The costumes were over the top especially as this was the serious dramatic bit, and oh that ever present background music - regardless of scene there was music (usually inappropriate) in the background. So regardless of good acting the whole thing became a farce - a find of take of the genre. And then came the execution of Mary - this is where it all fell apart. It was all so incredibly badly done (and inaccurate) with the music totally going off the planet - it was like being in a rock concert - the music was so over powering.
Then came the Armada and the fruitcakes playing the Spanish leaders. The special effects were well done but much of their effects were lost when Elizabeth came up in full (silver!) armour on her house. The music still tries to keep the whole thing going but fails miserably. The sailing scenes were not bad but when Sir Walter Raleigh did an Errol Flynn all credibility was lost. The end sinks into patriotic rubbish.
A film that had great potential but did not know what it was: a serious drama, a farce, or an escapist epic. The trouble is that it was all of these and I certainly became confuse being in awe of the acting in the first part, being annoyed by the music, laughing my head of with some of the `epic scenes, and nearly passing out with hysterical laughter as Raleigh swung around the ships. A disappointment - go the Helen Mirren version.
Golden ... Turkey?.......2008-03-12
The costumes and filming are good, but I would not recommend this film.
The main issue seems to be that the makers did not decide what story or character to focus on.
A little research on Raleigh leads me to believe there is enough colourful material in his life for 2 or 3 movies - it is a pity that Johnny Depp was not signed up for a three movie series on Raleigh (instead of the Pirates of the Caribbean). But the focus of this movie is not Raleigh or Elizabeth or Mary Queen of Scots or telling a particular episode of history such as the Armada. There seemed to be an attempt to cram everything in - moreover with very little explanation, so if you did not have some knowledge of Elizabethan history. it would probably be difficult to follow.
Personally I was also disappointed by the language. This is a period piece and the English should really be more Shakesperean (that is - the Elizabethan/Jacobean vernacular). If we have Spanish for Spanish and German for German, why not Elizabethan English for Elizabethan English.
Raleigh's real life spanned the Elizabethan and Jacobean period, but of course the film industry does not allow actual history to get in the way of a plot. They deviated in several places in this film.
Did Raleigh introduce turkeys from the new world - this film is almost one, though not so bad you could watch it for laughs.
Five Stars!!!.......2008-03-10
Elizabeth: the golden age is a very good moovie. I highly recomend it to everyone. The costumes, the setting and of course the actors are really good. And as always Cate Blanchett delievers a splendid performance as Queen Elizabeth. Blanchett is one of the 21st best actorest.
Elizabeth,the golden age is worth every penny and is a must-see. Go buy it, you won't regrate!! (",)
not as good as it could have been.......2008-03-09
The acting the set and the costumes were unbelievably superb! I have rarly seen better. But being a history buff I was dissapointed that it focused on Raleigh aand little else. To my mind they could have included a lot more that was happening at the time. But if you want to enjoy fabulous scenery and great acting this is your film
Amazon.co.uk Review
Elizabeth: The Golden Age may not have been bestowed with a similar shower of awards (nor quite as glowing critical reaction) as its predecessor. But don't be fooled: this is a terrific costume drama, and one that very much leaves you hoping for the hinted-at third installment.
Once again starring Cate Blanchett in the title role, Elizabeth: The Golden Age sees events pick up with her very well established on the throne. It's a new set of problems and issues that present themselves, with the impending threat of the Spanish Armada, and the scheming Mary, Queen Of Scots (brilliantly played by the always-terrific Samantha Morton) foremost in her mind.
That is, of course, apart from Sir Walter Raleigh, played by Clive Owen. Elizabeth: The Golden Age adds a potential romance for the virgin Queen, one that she struggles to come to terms with. And in the capable hands of returning director Shekhar Kapur, these many threads are woven together skillfully and a willingness to break the conventions of the period drama.
The star attraction remains Blanchett again, of course, whose performance is just as striking and textured as it was nearly a decade before. Elizabeth: The Golden Age may have an impressive cast, but all of them must have known they were on a hiding to nothing going up against the majesty (in more than one sense) of Blanchett. Because while the film itself does have a problems, it's still better than you may have been led to believe, and boasts a tour-de-force central performance that you simply won't see matched very often at all. --Jon Foster
Customer Reviews:
A MUST SEE, EXCELLENT FILM ++++++++++++.......2008-03-14
I bought this film because of Cate Blanchett, which in my opinion is one of the best. But after watching this film I think it will appeal to a very wide audience indeed, excellent acting, lavish sets/costumes etc... true storyline. Cate blanchett portrayed Elizabeth with depth,strengh,kindness,tenderness,& power. The supporting cast were all excellent in their rolls, which were faultless. I Recommend this film 100%.
A dull, fragmented, lifeless yawn masquerading as an epic.......2008-02-28
Anyone with half a brain and a passion for motion pictures, who also value their precious time, their hard-earned dublouns and their intelligence, should avoid this dull, fragmented, insipid, passionless porker of a movie like so many of those plagues that wreaked havoc throughout Elizabethan England. For anyone expecting this sequel to the dynamic and tension-filled first 'Elizabeth' to sit proudly alongside its worthy stablemate on the DVD-shelf, will soon witness instead its rapid consignment to the earliest car-boot sale or nearest charity shop, for I defy anyone to stomach more than one sitting of this turgid, self-important nonesense.
If one is to believe the director and screen-writer's vision of Elizabeth's 'Golden Age' (and clearly the task was beyond both of them), it comprised little more than a sorry, soulless tale of three dull folk (the queen, a bland courtier called Bess and a very bored, disinterested Sir Clive Owen aka Sir Walter Raleigh aka Sir Clive Owen) immersed in a pretentious, pointless little menage-a-trois, that takes up huge (and I mean HUGE) chunks of the film, whilst only briefly (and I mean BRIEFLY) interrupted with almost annoying affairs-of state, such as, oh, er, Mary Queen of Scots' execution (in silly slow-motion!), a catholic plot (hapless, hopelss and totally devoid of tension or drama, much like the rest of the film) and, oh yes, the great climax, the Armada, which, when set aside other movie sea battles, as witnessed recently in, say, Master and Commander or even any one of the Pirates Trilogy, is quite pitiful.
Gone are the power-politics and court-intrigues of the first film, the tensions, the drama, the plots, the fear, the betrayals, not to mention seminal historical characters such as the Cecils and the Dudleys. And spare a thought for poor Sir Francis Walsingham, chief spymaster and one of the most intriguing characters in the Elizabethan world, reduced here to a dull, mumbling, one-dimensional grandad, with a set of truly awful script-lines to match. This was a long (very long) 90 minutes that add nothing to the first film. In fact, I think they are in danger of detracting from the qualities of the first one, and those poor souls who think otherwise are deluding themselves. And what is this obsession with filming the whole thing (again!) in a great big stone cathedral?!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Not Up To Its Predecessor.......2008-02-11
Criticising this film, as some have, for lacking historical verisimilitude is on a par with doing the same to Black Adder's Queenie. This isn't a history lesson; it's entertainment. Similar things have been done to our other mythic ruler, Arthur, without the fuss.
Where I would criticise it is in failing to rise to the expectations set by Cate Blanchett's original appearance as Good Queen Bess, an entertainment in itself but also an excellent essay in Machiavellian politics, with Geoffrey Rush's Walsingham a masterly portrait of the spymaster, enforcer and advisor, shaping what was merely promising material at the start into a fully functioning Renaissance monarch.
This second outing for Blanchett and Rush lacks that edge. Sure, it's entertaining, and there's some not-bad CGI as the Spanish Armada meets its fiery end. But the one serious message I could detect was in Elizabeth's reluctance to clamp down on her Catholic subjects on the premise that such repression would make their rebellion a self-fulfilling prophecy. The parallels with Islam in the current era are obvious, and the message is one even Season 6 of 24 carries!
Elizabeth's agony over the decision to execute Mary Queen of Scots unfortunately does no more than make her look deranged rather than distraught, and her infatuation with Clive Owen's Raleigh is not much more than a limp crowd pleaser, where Joseph Fiennes's Dudley in the original played almost the symbolic role of a youth rejected - something like Henry V's Falstaff. Also missing is an adversary to match the menace of Christopher Ecclestone's Norfolk - King Philip comes over as a bit of a hubristic buffoon.
So, whilst Elizabeth wins a place in my top-whatever movies of all time, its sequel will take a backseat amongst the movies I've also watched and found merely entertaining.
I dunno. Maybe I'm taking this all too seriously?
Let's go living in the past.......2008-02-02
I had some reservations about this film before venturing to see it at the cinema. The rating, PG-13, was lower than the R the first movie had which brought a degree of trepidation about the content being watered down. As well as that I wondered if it would indeed be possible to achieve the degree of excellence which the first film had met.
Having watched this film again several times on DVD I believe that although the current film has not achieved the same degree of oppulent excellence as the first it has come pretty close. It is clear that the lower rating is intended to attract a wider audience and the naughtiness which abounded in the first film is still there in the second although not so obvious.
Both films display a degree of enlightenment of how to perceive the past. Others have characterised the Elizabeth films as mere historical dramas and romances and to a degree those perceptions are correct insofar as the settings go. However, this is, to me at least, a superficial interpretation but other perspectives have greater strength.
Growing up in England, I was exposed to wonderful television programmes and films which depicted a historical portrayal of merrie olde Englande which was very historically inaccurate. I used to believe that the grimy industrial England portrayed by Dickens amongst others was an inferior time of high infant mortality, short live spans and very Hobbesian in nature. Until, that is, I discovered that Dickens was paid by the word and to keep his readers interested he portrayed the country in such a way that they would crave for more. Simialrly, closer examination of merrie olde Englande showed that it was not very merry at all.
In conjunction with that, history of human sexuality was largely began from Victorian times with their sense of prudishness and repression and it has been falsely claimed that much of current life was non-existant before so-called modern times.
Viewed from these perspectives both films shed a different light on events of Elizabethan times. Elizabeth is not a single strong woman, she is a survivor against men who resent her grip on power. She was, like Margaret Thatcher, the strongest "man" of her time. Similarly the record of the times showed that although there were certain societal rules which needed to be followed, they were often broken but unless they were discovered and exposed they continued. Feints within feints as Frank Herbert would write in Dune.
What I love about these films, aside from their radical perspective on past events and the personalities of the time, is their focus on intrigue and plots. The machinations of the Catholic Church as exemplified by Philip of Spain in the battle to prevent the supremacy of the Anglican church from occuring, the jockeying for power utilising religion as a front, the godfather ruthlessness of the time and indeed the correlation with the penultimate scenes of that movie, all within times which were supposedly much simpler than our own.
Ultimately though Elizabeth is human, a woman, a woman of strength who subborns her own needs and desires to those of her country. Elizabeth the consumate politician. Is this a story of Elizabeth I or the current monarch residing on the throne of the United KIngdom? Sometimes one wonders, not least in the role of the closest of her advisers.
There is much for thought and entertainment in this film. Blanchett's performance is stunning once more and Clive Owen has come a long way since his Chancer days. All in all this is an excellent film and will be judged as such in the longer term.
Wrongly panned by the press critics.......2008-01-27
After seeing this tremendous film, I was astounded to hear that the press reviews had been poor and that the box-office takings were very low. Why? I can only put this down to the dismal and ever-lowering standards of press criticism these days, and it's sad that these seem to have put off people from seeing a great film that is destined over the years to become a classic. This is a completely absorbing, beautifully realised, sweeping, painterly film where the costumes and sets are as convincing as the acting. There are some tiny flaws, as there are in all films: the fleeting 30-second appearance of Drake falls completely flat, the central romance is perhaps strung out two or three minutes too long, and the fleeting 'return to the Council tent' in the final clifftop scene near the end was over-egging an already rich emotional pudding. But these are minor matters in the grand sweep of the film, which also has a strong flow of countless gem-like scenes and actors - the portrayal of Dr. Dee in particular is very fine. The visual portrayal of England's landscape is also fine; restrained yet powerful, showing an England which has yet to undergo the peace and prosperity of the Elizabethan Renaissance and become the land of Shakespeare and Marlowe. This is a grand historical epic that deserves to sit alongside the greats in that genre.
Customer Reviews:
#2's .......2008-03-13
Cate Blanchett is superb, but the film is flawed by not making more of the epic sea battle, which is rather ignored (Drake only appears for a few seconds, it's mostly Raleigh's film). I was left wondering quite how accurate the film was historically
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