Elizabeth: The Golden Age

*** Stars

Queen Elizabeth I of England is a fascinating story. Her successes and downfalls had enormous effects on the outcome of Europe in the 16th century. The Queen had to fight many battles on the field and in the right to her privacy. Elizabeth was a virgin queen, with no heir to her thrown and without the love of another man. Rumors throughout England, and even Europe created a debate of whether or not the power of this sort of freedom would effect the decisions she would make in times of hard days. She stated that she is indeed a mother...a mother to her people.

While the original film in 1998 showed the rise of her power, the sequel is a story of how Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett, who can do no wrong) kept her power, even when the strong men of the world sought to destroy her crown. King Philip II of Spain challenged her rule, bringing a war to her with his Spanish armada and powerful army. The King demanded Catholicism to be spread all throughout England, destroying the Queen's faith of Protestantism. Sir Francis Walsingham (the always impressive Geoffrey Rush) continued to aid the Queen and her court as politics and her personal life intertwined. He tried to uncover the traitors of her rule. One turned out to be her own cousin Mary Stuart of Scotland (Samantha Morton) who was next in line to rule England. When she committed treason (she tried to kill the Queen), she was punished by death. After discovering this, the Spanish Armada sailed to England to throw the rule of Elizabeth.

The movie not only displays the Politics of Elizabeth's rule, but also the small personal life that had become of her. She bared a forbidden attraction for Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) and to keep him around, she asked her favorite aid Bess to befriend him. She became jealous when the two may have seemed to fall for one another. Elizabeth began to understand that the world she lived in prevented her from obtaining the warmness of a husband, and the wonder of a child.

The film has a hard time deciding what kind of film it wants to be. It spends a lot of time with Elizabeth and Walter rambling about the ideas of loving each other, while Spain prepares for its invasion. To the filmmakers credit, this idea does work, but Clive Owen's character is to fake to feel real. Its as though he appears just for the sake of having a love story. He is also a swashbuckler to the highest order, as he sores through the air on his ship looking like a wannabe Jack Sparrow.

The movie is still definitely worth seeing. Blanchett received an Oscar nod for the original film and keeps the performance here leveled with that one. So if the Academy doesn't want to be hypocritical, she should be nominated again. Now I am not taking anything away from her with that statement. She is a wonderful actress no matter what role she dives into. Even if you role your eyes at some of the parochial love lines, you may gain some knowledge on this subject as the film lets you dive into the world's history without forgetting the importance of entertainment.