Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Cate Blanchett is an excellent Elizabeth, Geoffrey Rush - Walsingham (perhaps a direct relative of Captain Barbossa) - again excels and can say everything with one look, the costumes are breathtaking, the music is beautiful, the direction is pleasant, and the portrayal of the relationship of Elizabeth I and Walter Raleigh (a very likeable Clive Owen) is not offensive - on the contrary, it's unforced and historically somewhat faithful... For about an hour and a quarter, it was all positives and I was convinced that The Golden Age would get a full rating like the previous film. But then it came. The Battle of Gravelines. My favorite chapter. Ouch. While it looks very nice (the digital magic is complemented with one actually-built ship, which the filmmakers designed to play an English schooner on one side and a Spanish schooner on the other side - a real piece of work, I recommend the bonus DVD), I was glad for the fire ships... But! In the film, it looks like Raleigh won the battle on his own. The script made him a Hollywood arch-hero from Pirates of the Caribbean, while Francis Drake only makes a passing appearance (he says two or three boring sentences and his name doesn't even appear in the end credits - the poor actor who will boast that he "played that Drake"), and the name Charles Howard of Effingham (it was in fact he who chose the eight people who became the firebugs) does not appear at all. The fact that only one ship of the entire Spanish Armada was damaged in the attack of the fire ships, after which the fleet dispersed and the battle, full of pursuit and shelling, was not played out until the morning, did not seem to interest the screenwriters... etc. I don't mind historical "errors" in movies like Gladiator or Kingdom of Heaven. I can tolerate them there because they (more or less) don't tell about something that actually happened. But in this case, I'm not gonna turn a blind eye. Three stars for the terrible popcorn. (2011-11-23)

Nice set designs, gorgeous dresses and a great Cate Blanchett unfortunately does not a good movie make. The script is still quite crucial, and if it is not exactly simple in terms of the historical events portrayed, then it is very important to consider to what detail the creators want to go here. And they decided to go into such detail that I was emotionally absolutely detached and the only moment where one of my eyelids moved a little was the ending, where Clive Oven would have made even a statue cry. At the first glance, the viewer may think that the film may not be so bad a period drama, but unfortunately all that glitters is not gold. (2019-10-11)

Even though Cate is consistently excellent and incredibly asexual, which is nothing unusual in her case, the film itself is quite boring. Yes, there are significant historical events, but one gets the feeling that a different director made this. It's something like the difference between "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal". However, in the case of "Elizabeth", the director is still the same, he just tries to be extremely pompous and overly dramatic after nine years, resulting in an inflated film that cannot decide what is more important - the queen's personal life or the historical events. Neither is as well-balanced in this case as it is in the film "Elizabeth". (2014-02-26)

A big historical film that doesn’t know what it wants to be. On the one hand there are attempts at some sort of psychological storyline that often fall flat due to situations that are either awfully unfitting for a concept like this, or with a logic that is very misguided. As a result, the characters lose all their humanity, the viewer can get under the skin of the heroes, which is why some emotional outbursts en up causing laughter. On the other hand, for pure popcorn fun, there isn’t enough action. The camera and the direction also feel quite schizophrenic, in a sea of utterly unoriginal scenes, you get glimpses of something that with a bit of ambition could be called a signature, but alas, these are only exceptions. All this makes Elizabeth: The Golden Age nothing but an average historical film that is saved from total catastrophe mostly by the good actors. Kapur should try making a smaller genre piece. (2008-10-14)

A bland popcorn flick that can hardly be compared to the first one, which was more minimalistic and less mass audience-oriented. It lacks drama and a “realistic” portrayal of history, and it also lacks the typical action story and action itself. The characters deliver cliché dialogues, their relationships are black and white, leaving our eyes only for the excellent Cate Blanchett and a few very intimate scenes. Forget about seeing a thrilling naval battle, if you are seeking quality and interesting content better turn to the captivating Master and Commander. In the end, Elizabeth: The Golden Age it’s like seeing an average and completely unimpressive mediocre film. (2007-12-01)