This movie is OK at best. Which is really a shame. Queen Elizabeth I is an important figure and the story around her is very interesting. She was a woman in a man's job at a time when women were little more than property. She inherited a kingdom that was torn apart by religious strife. She faced threats from the major powers of Europe. She faced near constant threat of assassination. And she came through with flying colors.
The movie compresses many of the trials in her life into a much smaller time frame. I've got no problem with that. Rewriting history for narrative sake has a long and rich history. Often it makes for a better movie. Braveheart took larger liberties than Elizabeth, but they served to better define the theme of the movie. In this movie, they serve to weaken it. Instead of seeing her playing her enemies off of one another, we see her refuse to take any of them seriously. Instead of showing her teach her subjects how to love England as she does, we see her putting on makeup to try and become a new virginal icon. In many ways, this movie represents a lost opportunity. Elizabeth I should be shown in all of her strength. Here, she comes off as a weak woman who can only survive if strong men help her out.
In it's defense, the acting is very good. Cate Blanchett kind of broke onto the scene here with some very strong work. Geoffery Rush is also very good. Joseph Fiennes plays the young queen's lover, which makes for interesting contrast with 'Shakespeare' in love.
A few other movie comments: This movie is gratuitously violent. Almost in a Bruckheimer sense. It also suffers a serious pacing issue. The movie sets the stage of conflicting intrests, French/Spanish, Catholic/Protestant and even Love/Politics. At each end we wonder what the resolution will be and how it'll turn out. And then Elizabeth tells her advisor to do what he must. What follows is Geoffery Rush killing everybody. This is the movie equivalent of Staples Easy Button. And it feels like a cheat.
An Ok movie. Not nearly Oscar worthy.
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