- So here’s the biggest problem with this movie: they’re trying to make it into a love story when the love story is the least interesting part of the movie. I can understand the love story angle in the first film, since we’ve got this hot young queen without a husband and an heir so it makes sense to delve into that aspect of her life. But in this? She’s already been the bloody queen for twenty-five years by the time this movie starts; the fact that she’s still unmarried and childless is no longer terribly interesting. Are you going to tell me that we can’t find enough interesting content in Elizabeth’s life from this period that we have to focus entirely on a did-they-or-didn’t-they relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh?
- In this movie, Francis Drake does not exist. WTF?
- I really hated Clive Owen in this, wow. I’ve never hated him before in anything. They kept telling us how charming Raleigh was supposed to be, but he kept coming off dirty and smarmy. There was this one seriously epic shot of him on the front of his ship, King of the World style, and I nearly died.
- Cate Blanchett was average in this, which is to say she was her usual awesome self but it’s not like she was really stretching her legs as an actor. I’m sort of sad that come Oscar season, she’ll probably get nominated for this instead of her vastly superior performance in I’m Not There.
- The problem with being a historical epic is that at some point you’re going to have a big battle scene and if you’re the type of historical epic that’s mostly confined to drama at the court, then the production values of your battle scene are going to suffer. A lot. I think we’ve been spoiled with lots of really great sea battles in movies in the last while (Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean) where you get actual ships smashing into each other and everything looks like what I imagine authentic sea battles would look like. Not so much in this one. You can totally tell they constructed tiny portions of ships’ hulls and set about exploding them on some sound stage in London. It was sort of really cheesy. It’s like when the ship gets attacked at the end of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which works for that movie but not so much for this one.
- Most awkward scene: watching the Queen of England beat up a pregnant woman. Er. I’ve seen a couple of negative reviews that talk about how this movie reduces Elizabeth to this hysterical, lovelorn madwoman and, sadly, they’re not wrong because that’s exactly how she comes across. I’m not opposed to them giving the Queen a human side, an emotional side, but there’s a difference between showing emotion and just plain acting crazy. I just have a hard time seeing how a woman of her age and experiences would react like that. In another kind of film, these would have been the first steps in illustrating that she was losing her mind, you know?
- The costuming was awesome and that’s really why anyone would want to see this movie. I especially loved what they did with Elizabeth and Bess, Elizabeth’s Number 1 lady in waiting. Throughout the movie, Bess is played as a surrogate Elizabeth, culminating in Raleigh essentially living his relationship with Elizabeth vicariously through Bess. To illustrate Bess as essentially a paler version of Elizabeth, they often had her costumed in the same colour as Elizabeth, only a paler version. (Which is clear in the name Bess as a diminutive of Elizabeth, of course.) All the other ladies in waiting would be dressed in pale creams or greys while Elizabeth and Bess would be in blues or greens or other non-neutral colours. When Bess finally breaks free from Elizabeth by marrying Raleigh and bearing his child without the Queen’s approval, Elizabeth shows up in a rock and roll rage wearing blue while Bess is in white.
- Here’s an interesting factoid for you, courtesy of Wikipedia:
It is said that Bess had her husband’s head embalmed and carried it around with her for the rest of her life.
Kind of like Keith Richards in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, no? True piratey love!
- Walter Raleigh, winner of the most arbitrary knighthood ever. Yes, I’m including Mick Jagger in this list.
- I must admit, I really do love pre-battle speeches meant to rouse the troops. I don’t think anyone will ever rival Mel Gibson in Braveheart, though.
- Most of the symbolism (aside from the Eliz/Bess dress thing) is really obvious and heavy-handed and obnoxious. When the weather turns awful during the Armada’s attempted invasion and Philip II of Spain’s candle goes out, I wanted to kill myself. WOW.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Yet another sequel that tries its best to sully by association the awesomeness of its predecessor.
IMDB Plot Synopsis A mature Queen Elizabeth endures multiple crises late in her reign including court intrigues, an assassination plot, the Spanish Armada, and romantic disappointments.