Elizabeth - The Golden Age (Widescreen Edition)
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Actor: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffry Rush, Samantha MortonBrand: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Swedish (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-05
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Elizabeth - The Golden Age (Widescreen Edition)
DVD Review: Not a disaster but less than commanding
Summary: 3 Stars
At once more ambitious and less intriguing than its predecessor, Elizabeth: The Golden Age certainly isn't the abject disaster reviewers claimed on its theatrical release, although it's not nearly as engrossing as the original. Unfortunately, while Shekhar Kapur opens up the action and opts for a much lighter palate this time round, with at least a trailer's worth of striking visuals, the results are not particularly compelling. By focusing on the best-known part of the Virgin Queen's reign there's less of the constant sense of danger that marked its predecessor even though it amps up the threat by pitting her not against her own court but the might of the Spanish Empire and its Armada. Yet, being a sequel, it adheres to the `the same but different,' and there's certainly a strong element of d?j? vu: the dastardly Catholics are still plotting her death, with Rhys Ifans and Samantha Morton taking on the Daniel Craig and Fanny Ardant roles of Jesuit hitman and conspiring Scottish queen. And, as before, history isn't well served, with the film offering the notion that Philip of Spain conspired to force Elizabeth to execute Mary Queen of Scots to give him an excuse for a holy war.
The script certainly could have been better, running down rather than gaining momentum as the Armada approaches and dropping the ball in many of the obvious slamdunks. Certainly if you're going to omit Elizabeth's famous "I may have the body of a weak and foolish woman, but I have the heart of a king" you need to come up with something with more guts and bravado than the tired horseback speech she gives to rally her troops. Even worse, the Armada itself is something of an anti-climax. The almost painting-like CGi effects aren't as much a problem in a film as occasionally stylised as this as are the all-too obvious budget limitations that reduce it to the odd running commentary that makes it somewhat akin to listening to a football game on the radio.
Performances are highly variable. Blanchett is suitably regal in the lead, with Geoffrey Rush and David Threlfall fare best among the courtiers, but Abbie Cornish makes little impression, Rhys Ifans just seems to be going through the motions and Samantha Morton is fairly awful as Mary. Both bland and risibly hammy at the same time, with her risibly overemphatic delivery she feels like a smug prefect in a school play playing up to the gallery rather than a credible conspiring monarch, giving easily the worst performance in the film even after the worst of her performance hit the cutting room floor. Yet the biggest surprise in the film is Clive Owen's Walter Raleigh.
If at first it seems disastrous casting the zombie-like Owen as the representation of the life and love Elizabeth can never have, but, amazingly, for once he almost rises to the occasion. Like many a bad actor he's utterly hopeless in the moments that aren't about him, looking bored when he's supposed to be listening, displaying complete disinterest in his scenes with Abbie Cornish and sleepwalking through the battle with the Armada, but for once he handles his monologues - the best writing in the film - surprisingly well, even changing his expression a few times, though quite why he chooses to play his early scenes with a bad American accent remains a mystery. It's not a perfect performance (the deleted scenes on the DVD show that his flat delivery and lack of timing botched a gift of a scene with Rush), but for the first time there are signs that if he was willing to really put in the work and had a director who wouldn't mistake talking in a bored Coventry accent for a performance he could be a capable jobbing supporting actor.
The 1.85:1 widescreen transfer is a bit disappointingly short on detail in some scenes, though there are a decent set of extras.
DVD Review: Beautiful Portrayal of Elizabeth I
Summary: 5 Stars
Picking up shortly after Elizabeth I left off the movie portrays the complicated life of one of England's greatest Monarchs. Elizabeth The Golden Age, shows us the balance which was required of Elizabeth, balancing the incredible tenacity and guts it took to rule England and her fears and longings for real love and security.
Elizabeth's life is a story of overcoming the odds. Born second child of Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, she was supposed the be the long awaited and promised son of the King, yet Henry's wishes for a son were dashed upon her birth. In the first movie we see the growth of her strength which Elizabeth must muster to survive, and in The Golden Age we see the strength come into full bloom, the strength she will need to overcome the looming Spanish evasion and the always present question of marriage and producing a male heir.
Europe has become divided by Protestant and Catholic, and Elizabeth's own country and family has fallen along divided lines as well. Queen Mary of Scotland sits to the north imprisoned by Elizabeth, but Mary possesses something that Elizabeth does not have, the backing of Catholic Spain and France. For Elizabeth it is only a matter of time until she will be called upon to do something about the looming threat of Mary. When that time comes we find Elizabeth torn between what must be done to a trader and the rights of a sovereign Queen like herself.
It is this decision which leads to the climax of the movie. Mary is favored by Spain and with the outcome of Mary's fate, Spain steps into action to crush the Protestant [...] Elizabeth. Elizabeth faced with an impeding invasion of the Spanish steps forward to encourage her countrymen in the battle and protect her beloved England.
However The Golden Age is not solely about the battles between countries but the battles of the heart. Elizabeth although known as the Virgin Queen is not without the need of love and passion. Yet Elizabeth knows that this could pose as big a threat to her and her country as the Spanish and French.
This film is truly a feast for the eyes - incredible costumes and sets are only the beginning. I would recommend that one watch The Golden Age after first viewing Elizabeth I. It will assist in knowing where Elizabeth has been and the amount of growth in Elizabeth is amazing to watch.
DVD Review: Childish, and peppered with thinly-veiled racism...
Summary: 2 Stars
To begin with, Kate Blanchett is good, no matter what you put her in. But then there is the matter of the director, Shekhar Kapur. This Pakistani born, managed to paint Spaniards in a cartoonish depiction, whereby their walk and mannerisms are equated to The Planet of the Apes. They used several actors who don't even look like Spaniards, and who can't even speak the language! The accents are completely ridiculous. As is typical of right-wing financed films, they got a director of color to push their agenda. It is expected of Hollywood to rewrite history, and paint Spaniards as animals, but this one goes over the top, to the point that it is obvious and laughable. YOU BE THE JUDGE. It is understandable that it must be central to the film to portray Protestantism as "the light" and Catholicism as brutal dogmatism, if you are to paint Elizabeth as the hero that she was. But there are ways of doing it tastefully and with historical accuracy, none of which are present in this film. It is obvious that it isn't for a mature, educated audience, but rather one more of the new wave of light and fluffy period films for a new breed of morons who know nothing about history, and who are easily manipulated and polarized by the new wave of hatred-filled propaganda in the U.S. and England. In a sense, the Neo-Conservatives behind this film, in an attempt to discredit Spaniards, actually made a portrayal of themselves, because THEY are the anachronistic imbeciles that humanity is desperately trying to get rid of. How's THAT for irony?DVD Review: Cate Blanchett is the definitive Elizabeth, and she proved it in the first film...
Summary: 4 Stars
"Elizabeth," the first film, was about a young woman coming to the throne in a period of great turmoil, and how she dealt with that... It was love in the context of power, betrayal, and survival...
In "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," we're dealing with the most famous aspects of her regime, the Spanish Armada, the Babington Plot, which was a major plot against her, and Walter Raleigh bringing back the very early understanding of the New World, and the horizons beyond Britain... It is the exploration of unrestricted power...
Elizabeth, as cultured and as intelligent and eloquent as she was, had never left the shores of England... And into her court, strides an explorer who has literally been where the maps end... The gallant Raleigh (Clive Owen) was a free spirit who thrills the queen with his tales and discoveries at sea ... The classic 16th-century adventurer who doesn't play by any official rules, and he does bring into the world of the court something very alluring, enigmatic and charismatic, which has a big impact on the queen...
The relationship between Raleigh and Elizabeth was very complicated... There were things holding Elizabeth back... "We mortals have many weaknesses; we feel too much, hurt too much or too soon we die, but we do have the chance of love." These words were spoken by Sir Walter Raleigh to the Virgin Quenn...It's very rare that the Queen takes interest in a man, and she does...
At this special point, England was very weak militarily... Elizabeth had discharged the navy... And once again it was the old problem of religious instability, which harasses the human race frequently...
Anybody that's interested in this period of history will find it fascinating just how capable Elizabeth was in regards to how she dealt with the captive Queen of Scots...
Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton) had great respect for the Protestant Elizabeth, and was remarkably intrigued by her, and desperate to meet her, and fascinated... For several years Elizabeth suffered about her execution because she really believed two things... She believed that any queen was divine... She accepted as true that her Catholic cousin was there by the will of God, and therefore, Mary was there by the will of God... And in executing Mary, she would disintegrate her one belief that she herself was divine...
Mary found it in death... Elizabeth had to find it in life... So if you look at the Armada, Elizabeth finally does become divine, and that's why we had to admire how the scene of the Armada is shot, by Shekhar Kapur, in that way... It's not actually a fiery sea battle between two countries... It's a 'Holy War' with Spain... Therefore, the defining moments of the Armada is when Elizabeth walks up across the verdant cliffs in flowing white nightgown... She's no longer the Avenging Queen... She's instead a supernatural being, a disembodied soul defeating the enemy, dominating the fearless of the waves, the force of the storm, and the strength of fire...
Dripping with intrigues, plots, battles, mysteries, and strong emotions, the film captured the ecclesiastical spaces of the cathedrals to look more like a palace environment... It also captured the feel of the16th century architecture, linking and matching it to the proper locations...
DVD Review: Almost better than the first
Summary: 5 Stars
I think that this film is even better than its predecessor. An excellent and lavish production that is both "entertaining" and just fascinating in itself. Blanchett does such a wonderful job in both films. I especially enjoyed the intrigue in this one.
Description of Elizabeth - The Golden Age (Widescreen Edition)
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.
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
Beyond Elizabeth - The Golden Age on DVD
 More from Cate Blanchett |  British Royalty on DVD |  More Drama from Universal Studios |
Stills from Elizabeth - The Golden Age (click for larger image)
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