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		List Price: $39.98		Label: Universal Studios Salesrank: 12381 Released: February 5, 2008
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		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: HD DVD

Editorial Review:
Academy Award® winners Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush join Academy Award® nominee Clive Owen in a gripping historical thriller full of suspense, intrigue and adventure!

When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, she and her shrewd advisor must act to safeguard to the lives of her people. But when a dashing seafarer, Walter Raleigh, captures her heart, she is forced to make her most tragic sacrifice for the good of her country.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age tells the thrilling tale of one woman's crusade to control her love, destroy her enemies and secure her position as a beloved icon of the western world.

Description of Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]:
In 1998's Elizabeth, Shekhar Kapur added a layer of suds to his history lesson; the director follows the same audience-pleasing recipe in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Since the first film, Blanchett scored an Oscar for her note-perfect rendition of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, and she plays the preternaturally bemused monarch in a similar fashion. By 1585, Elizabeth I is an experienced ruler about to face two of her biggest challenges: betrayal by her Catholic cousin, Mary Stuart (Control's Samantha Morton), and invasion by the Spanish Armada. It isn't so much that the Protestant Elizabeth wishes to rid England of "papists," but that she wants her country to remain free from foreign domination. Closer to her home, she enjoys a sisterly relationship with lady-in-waiting Bess (rising Aussie star Abbie Cornish). That changes when Sir Walter Raleigh (a dashing Clive Owen) hits the scene. In order to continue exploring the New World, he seeks the queen’s sponsorship. She is charmed, but Raleigh only has eyes for Bess. As in the previous picture, Elizabeth enjoys better luck at affairs of state than affairs of the heart, but the conclusion is more beatific than before (and Kapur intends a third installment if Blanchett is willing). Elizabeth: The Golden Age is a rush of royal intrigue, bloody torture, fantastic headpieces, and irresistibly ripe dialogue, like "I have a hurricane in me that will strip Spain bare if you dare to try me!" To Kapur, victory for the Virgin Queen was a viable alternative to sex. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Stills from Elizabeth – The Golden Age (click for larger image)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] Reviews:
Eye Candy for historical morons and religious bigots.
2009-12-18 - "Elizabeth- the Golden Age" is a star-studded, well-acted, visually sumptuous cinematic hate crime. Surpassing even the Davinci Code in historical fabrication, coarse stereotypes and anti-Catholic bigotry, "Elizabeth" has set a new low in the use of film to demonize, mock and slander a group of people. One would have to go back, perhaps, to "The Jew Suss" to see a film that would equal "Elizabeth" in religious hatred. Perhaps Shekhar Kapur's next project will be to bring "Maria Monk" to the screen.

From the film's introductory assertion that "Philip II, a devout Catholic, has plunged Europe into war", educated men will guffaw at the shameless lies this movie tries to have us swallow. The cartoonish, Manichean caricatures that populate this movie are enough to condemn it: weird, cadaverous Spaniards, Jesuit assassins, treasonous Catholics, a creepy Spanish Infanta who plays with an Elizabeth voodoo doll, and a vacant-eyed Philip II who limps about gibbering insanely. On the other hand we have the thoroughly modern Gloriana, the liberated woman and good boss, who indulgently winks at her equally likable subordinates' slip-ups and looks darned saucy in a fabulous wardrobe and a big red wig.

But the sins of this movie don't stop at characterizations that would have been thought shallow in the silent film era. Most shameless of all is the portrayal of Elizabeth as an advocate for freedom and religious tolerance. She is indeed famously recorded as having said that she had "no desire to make windows into men's souls". To be sure, a Catholic under the Elizabethan regime was "free" to believe whatever he wanted, so long as his faith stayed within the confines of his mind. If he didn't publicly abjure the Pope and the old Faith, worship and live as a Protestant in all externals, and keep his Catholicism completely secret, persecution and death awaited. The fate of St. Edmund Campion discloses, in bloody microcosm, the reality of Catholic life under Elizabeth. Arrested for preaching England's ancient Gospel and administering the Sacraments to England's persecuted Catholic majority, Campion was racked, tortured, hanged to the point of death, disemboweled and castrated while alive, then beheaded and quartered. Such was the vaunted tolerance of Bloody Bess for those who resisted the ersatz, government-issued religion.

Perhaps the current decline and collapse of the practically pagan English "church" is yet another proof of the old saying that the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small. The Anglican compromise was an unnatural and insupportable belief system imposed upon an unwilling people, and like all bad ideas, has produced bad fruit: Deism, indifferentism, innumerable sects, naturalism and ultimately atheism. For hundreds of years, and for some inscrutable purpose of God, this alien system was permitted to flourish in England but now seems to be approaching its end. Whither the English go now, to the Faith of their ancestors or down some other path, God only knows.

Elizabeth 90210
2009-11-09 - This movie has been on my to-view list for too long. So now, I broke down and rented.
Phillip II raises an army in Spain to attack the Protestant England, ruled by Elizabeth I. Elizabeth struggles to balance the Catholics and the Protestants in England, and to face off against the Spanish Armada.
The costumes, sets, and scenery are goregous, stunning. I can't tell you how often I would look at Cate Blanchett and think she was Elizabeth (in her costumes, she looks a lot like the paintings I've seen of Elizabeth I). The same goes for Samantha Morton as Mary. Absolutely stunning!
I think Cate did a fair job as Elizabeth, I enjoyed watching Geoffrey Rush as Sir Francis Walsingham, and Samantha Morton was excellent as Mary.
As I'm sure you could tell, I had trouble giving a plot to this story. Much of it seems to revolve around the teenaged antics of Elizabeth falling head over heels for Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), who only has eyes for Bess, the Queen's attendant. While I am sure that Elizabeth wasn't the portrait of perfection that we receive from history, I got tired of the melodrama of the romantic angle (hence the title of this review). It feels like a blasted soap opera. And it interrupts the conflict between Spain and England, making that storyline almost impossible to understand.
And the pacing! So slow, so boring, so tedious! So confusing! All these events...Mary's treason, Sir Francis Walsingham intercepting messages. It might make sense if it weren't so hidden, so buried underneath the romantic triangle.
Cate Blanchett attempts to do a good job with Elizabeth and she does make the queen appear strong, but at times, she makes Elizabeth too human, whining, complaining in front of her courtiers, in front of the people she's supposed to govern, who are supposed to respect her. What kind of woman can command admiration to be called the Virgin Queen if she is angsting over Raleigh being with Bess? Clive Owen is forgettable as Raleigh, Abbie Cornish will never win an award of any kind for her "performance" as Bess, and Jordi Mollà as the Spanish King just cements in our heads that Spain = Bad.
Lastly, historical inaccuracies abound, even to a history dunce such as myself. Wasn't Mary Elizabeth's sister, not cousin? Didn't she die before Elizabeth took the throne? Would Elizabeth really go all Eowyn on us and ride out Theoden style to meet her army? I understand that movies don't have to be historically accurate 100% of the time, but I can only suspend my disbelief so much.
Ultimately, I wouldn't recommend this movie. Perhaps history buffs might be able to glance over the inaccuracies (probably not) or maybe the uninitiated can become interested in the story (if they like romance triangles), but other than that. I don't know. But I know how I feel, and I didn't enjoy it. 2 stars for Cate Blanchett's attempts, Geoffrey Rush, and the gorgeous costumes.

12/01/2009 NOTE: I got confused between Mary Queen of Scots, Mary I of SCOTLAND, and Mary, "Bloody Mary", Mary I of ENGLAND. That is my fault, making my previous comment about a fallacy wrong.

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Against the grain...
2009-10-19 - I'm going to go against the grain and say that I loved this movie. I didn't expect a clean and accurate history lesson, so I simply enjoyed the fascinating character of Elizabeth (portrayed perfectly by Cate Balnchett), the stunning cinematography and the gorgeous musical score without worrying about historical accuracy. I was not bored at all while watching this (Unlike "The Queen" with Helen Miren) and I can honestly say that I will be watching this film again.

For Elizabeth I fans...
2009-10-16 - Good, but by no means as good as the first one. Cate Blanchett is, as always, exquisite, but the story line did not go deep enough. They glossed over some major pieces of history.

Great Acting and Costumes!
2009-10-05 - Cate Blanchett alone makes this movie fantastic. Her characterization of Queen Elizabeth is genius - every cell in her body becomes the powerful queen. Cate Blanchett shows Queen Elizabeth's ability to change "masks" - The queen who holds court shows her intelligence, strength, ruthlessness, yet has a sense of ironic humor. The queen in private shows her emotions, love, and fears. There are threats all around her.

Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) appears on the scene and throws his cloak below her feet so she does not step in a puddle. His dashing ways attract her as someone different from the boring duties of the Court. He tells of exciting adventures with savages, brings strange exotic items from the New World: potatoes and tobacco as well as a few Native Americans. her Court. Sir Walter distracts and intrigues her - makes her weak, she knows her rules as Queen, yet she needs him near. He notes that he has named territory after the Virgin Queen "Virginia."


She wants to focus on her responsibilities instead of personal matters. Skullduggery and
treachery is all around. There are fights on what religion should be practiced - an Armada that carries the Spanish Inquisition is coming to England to crush out the Protestants and make Catholicism the national religion. She depends on her advisor Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) to flush out her betrayers. Her own cousin, Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton) is plotting to have Elizabeth assassinated.

Again, Cate Blanchett is riveting as Queen Elizabeth, and the movie revolves around her role. The movie is excellent and the beautiful costumes, landscapes and sets frame the actress well.