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Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Director: Shekhar Kapur

3

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Synopsis

Almost a decade after ‘Elizabeth’, Shekhar Kapur and Cate Blanchett reunite for another slice of Virgin Queen life. HM is now firmly established, enjoying the occasional dally with Raleigh (Clive Owen) and shoring up the Empire against those fanatical Spaniards. Geoffrey Rush reprises his Walsingham; Abbie Cornish and Samantha Morton also appear.

Movie review

From Time Out New York

When last we left Queen Elizabeth I (Blanchett), she’d redeclared herself a virgin and enacted a Corleone-style housecleaning of traitors. Shekhar Kapur’s sequel to his own Elizabeth (1998) picks up the thread three decades later, as the monarch faces more problems: Spain threatens war, assassins lurk everywhere, and a wave of support for putting Scotland’s Mary Stuart on the throne is cresting. To complicate matters, hot-to-trot explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (Owen) stirs up Her Majesty’s hormones with offers of naming his recent find “Virginia” after her. (“What would you call it if I marry?” she asks. “Conjugia?” Lizzy, you’re such a riot!) But who has time for romance when there’s an empire to defend?

Like its predecessor, The Golden Age gives what’s usually Masterpiece Theatre material the blockbuster treatment; even banal conversations are filmed with bombast. Maintaining power is usually less inherently dramatic than learning its ropes, however, and this chapter of the queen’s life yields slightly diminished returns compared with her rise to glory. Still, Blanchett imbues this historical romp with a huge spark. Whether she’s blessing babies or delivering a St. Crispin’s Day–like speech in full armor, the actor makes you feel as if this is a role she was bred, if not born, to play.

Author: David Fear 2007-10-09 21:03:13

Time Out New York Issue 628: October 11–17, 2007

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User reviews of this film

  • Pete said...
    Posted on Nov 03 2007 04:29 This is an epic movie without a sense of gravitas - events slide across the screen but I rarely felt any empathy or involvement. Walter Raleigh appears as a salty old sea dog devoid of culture - not the aristocrat who said, "Better were it to be unborn than to be ill-bred." The location shots are superbly atmospheric whilst Elizabeth's exquisite wardrobe provides a regally enduring reason to see the movie its just not enough to lift the film out of its picture book feel - but evenso a picture book worth flipping through - and don't miss Philip II's spider walk - classic.
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Elizabeth: The Golden Age

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Cast & crew

Director: Shekhar Kapur

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Abbie Cornish, Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans, Jordi Mollà full cast

Genre(s): Drama

Rated: PG-13

Duration: 114 mins

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