Film

Queen Elizabeth I of England led a very exciting life. She stood up to the might of the Spanish empire and, in a key turning point in history, watched her ships kick the butts of the Spanish Armada. She had a famous flirtation with the roguish adventurer Walter Raleigh, he of the coat over the puddle. She survived an insurrection by Catholic supporters of her rival for the throne, Mary Queen of Scots.

Alas, screenwriters Michael Hirst and William Nicholson and director Kapur (who also helmed Elizabeth in 1998) turn the whole story into a series of climaxes and pageants. Despite strong performances, the film is more exhausting than dramatic.

That’s a shame, because Blanchett, whose first turn as the virgin queen garnered an Oscar nomination, is great fun to watch. With her icy calm concealing roiling emotions, she royally commands attention. When Elizabeth engages in what she knows will be a chaste relationship with Raleigh (the wonderfully seductive Owen), Blanchett captures a tricky mix of girlish giddiness and regal reserve.

More of those small scenes would be wonderful, but instead Kapur gives us God’s-eye camera angles on members of the royal court sweeping through endless hallways, epic-scale battle scenes, cartoonishly evil Spaniards and a wall-to-wall score that hammers every moment of the film into one’s brain. Even for a queen, not every second of life is a parade.