Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

An Exercise In Nonsense

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A single woman is adored by idiot film-makers.Poor romantic propaganda - and then we have to put up with Clive Owen too. Curses! And I have yet to see a good recreation of the Spanish Armada.This story is stuffed with Anglo bolloxology and completely fails to get to the heart of an amazing person. Blanchett plays the role well, but Elizabeth was a swat and a bitch + none of the humour of her privileged life comes across.Plus Burghley was the major influence on her life, not the totalitarian Walsingham. I'm getting too specific. But Clive Owen? Pshaw!

*Spoiler/plot- Elizabeth, The Golden Age, 2007. Follows the times of Queen Elizabeth's court and the launching and outcome of the Spanish sea Armada battles. Walter Raleigh, Francis Walsingham, King Philip of Spain, Mary Queen of Scots intrigues are interwoven for a film plot.*Special Stars- Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Jordi Molla. *Theme- Being defensive and acting prepares a country for war.*Trivia/location/goofs- Made in England. To save money, only one ship replica was built. It was Raleigh's English vessel on one side and a Spanish galleon on the other. When filming wide shots of the deck, smoke was used to cover up any separation in design. Mary, Queen of Scots, was not originally part of the Babington Conspiracy. Walsingham, who wanted her executed, got one of the conspirators to act as a double agent, and entrap her.*Emotion- A lush and dramatic story of this era. Some historic 'liberties' have been taken to make the film plot more predictable and therefore somewhat boring near the end. Because the outcome is well known from history.*Based On- On a true story from a book.

"Elizabeth" is an enjoyable film, though much of it was supposition and fiction. The intrigues and personal lives of folks of that time are really unknown in many ways and so the filmmakers too liberties with history--embellishing it here and there to make it seem more exciting. Here with the follow-up film, however, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is less about intrigues and persons and more about grand events--and as such is much more factual and better history.This film has three main plot themes. First is the ultimate execution of Mary Queen of Scots. This is covered superficially--perhaps because the film was about her cousin, Elizabeth. Regardless, what sort of woman she was isn't really alluded to (she was a rather awful person). Second, her relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh. Exactly how close it was is open to conjecture, but the film sure got it right that the Queen did not respond well to his secret marriage to another. Third, the climactic battle with the Spanish Armada. This is very grand, though exactly how the Spanish lost and how the weather did far more damage than the English navy isn't really discussed. Of course, me being a retired history teacher, I look for these things and assume the average viewer will not.The film is beautiful to look at, is a bit sterile when it comes to much of the acting and is engaging--though I assume not to a large percentage of the folks out there. If you like historical bio-pics, you'll enjoy this. Otherwise, you might find it a bit confusing and occasionally ponderous. As for me, I slightly preferred it to the prequel.

Elizabeth--The Golden Age is vastly inferior to the 1998 Elizabeth. Cate Blanchett is still very good as "the virgin Queen", but ..in essence..its really only more of the same, with a tardy script and some suspect acting. Clive Owen never gets to grips with his role as Sir Walter Raleigh, and is totally unconvincing. There is a lot of history to get through here and scenes that merited more time were rushed. The Spanish Armada was defeated in minutes..!!! It is visually a beautiful movie, and we can expect a final film. (Elizabeth died when she was 70.) Unfortunately i think the "game is up" for director Shekhar Kapur. His ace card was Elizabeth...and that card has been played.