The film compares unfavorably to Elizabeth I, the 2005 television film starring Helen Mirren. Both cover the same historical ground and have largely the same aims yet except for The Golden Age's computer-generated visual effects, Elizabeth I is much superior. As earlier films about Elizabeth I have attempted, both grapple with the basic conflict of loyalty to one's subjects vs. personal needs and desires, while trying to depict with some verisimilitude what daily life was like for European royalty in 16th century. Elizabeth I had the advantage of being nearly twice as long as The Golden Age; nevertheless, it weaves infinitely more historical and (especially) political detail into its narrative while at the same time offering a far more psychologically complex portrait of its title character.

Elizabeth - The Golden Age is comparatively superficial, the kind of movie where one is easily distracted by the wardrobe. When you're thinking to yourself, "Gee, I wonder if the film got an Oscar nomination for its Costume Design?" something's wrong somewhere. However, this emphasis on the visual is good news as far as the HD DVD presentation is concerned. It's bright and colorful with some undeniably eye-popping shots.

The Golden Age has been harshly criticized is some quarters for the way it plays fast and loose with historical facts. Most of these issues can be written off as dramatic license, such as the fact that Ivan the Terrible, presented as potential suitor to the unmarried queen, actually died a year before the story is set, and the portrait of him shown to Elizabeth was actually painted in 1897.

Much more glaringly problematic is that Elizabeth would have been 52 years old at the start of the film, and nearly 60 by its conclusion, yet Blanchett was 37 when this was made; there's still talk of Elizabeth bearing children, and no effort is made to disguise Blanchett's youth or perfectly sculpted features, when the historical Elizabeth I probably looked closer to Bette Davis's gargoyle of the 1955 film The Virgin Queen. Helen Mirren, on the other hand, was 60 when she essayed Elizabeth I, and she very much played it as a long-faded beauty. More fundamentally, Mirren's performance was intensely intimate, presenting a paradoxical private woman of incredible emotionally fragility and self-doubt with an assertive and politically savvy public face, a woman of steely resolve. In other words, she was a queen who played the role of Queen in public, and could be more (but never entirely) herself in private. Blanchett plays Elizabeth pretty much at the same level throughout.

Though good, one can plainly see Blanchett giving a performance where Mirren's acting is invisible. Blanchett's not helped by the scene-stealing costumes and ornate sets, which at times completely overwhelm her. Some critics have compared the film to a Bollywood musical; an exaggeration, perhaps, but not by much. In one scene Elizabeth and Walter Raleigh embrace in front of a fireplace, in a pose that looks exactly like the cover of any number of Harlequin Romance novels.

The occasionally purple prose matches the imagery. "I find the impossible far more interesting," Elizabeth says early on. And later, marveling the treasures Raleigh brings back from North America, "Did we discover the New World, or did the New World discover us?" The filmmakers also can't resist the allure of CGI wizardry, and the entire climax shifts away from the queen for a long stretch to dazzle us with the British Fleet's battle against the Spanish Armada. It's all quite spectacular yet dramatically unnecessary: it would have made no difference at all had the battle took place off camera, and probably would have been better had our view of it been limited to Elizabeth's perspective from shore.

The execution of Mary Stuart is a good case in point. Neither film explicitly shows the beheading, but in Elizabeth I it's a horrifying scene because it's so matter of fact and adheres to historical truth. In The Golden Age the execution is treated like Grand Opera, with booming underscoring, much wringing of hands and beautiful people in exquisite period costumes.

Others have criticized the film's alleged anti-Catholicism, but it's so simplistic one is hard-pressed to give the film that much credit. It depicts a Holy War in the basest of terms: the Spaniards all look sinister, bug-eyed and oily-mustached, with Queen Isabella (in her twenties in reality, but depicted here as a little girl) is like something out of Mario Bava's Kill, Baby...Kill!, complete with a little voodoo doll of the British Queen. Elizabeth, for her part, seems to regard English Catholics as equals, refusing to segregate or punish them for their religion. Maybe she really did believe in religious tolerance, but that sure doesn't ring true with British history generally.

These many complaints aside, Elizabeth - The Golden Age does have much that is interesting and worthwhile. Some of the details, real or imagined, are fascinating, like the idea that Elizabeth would consider distant potential suitors based on portrait paintings, or everyone's bemusement at newly-introduced potatoes, tobacco, and Native Americans brought back from the New World.

The performances are good. Despite my criticisms, Blanchett is a fine actress and has her moments, while Geoffrey Rush is excellent reprising his Francis Walsingham from Elizabeth. At times the film reminds one of the flag-waving propaganda of Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1945), though whether rallying British patriotism in The Golden Age is meant to draw parallels to the war on Islamic terrorism is less likely than the simple lifting of visual ideas.

Video & Audio

Elizabeth - The Golden Age is a combo format disc, with the 1080p VC-1 encoded HD-30 on side A, with the standard-def DVD-9 in 16:9 enhanced widescreen on side B. Both are listed in their original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratios but in fact are 1.78:1 full screen. The Super 35 production is a feast for the eyes as you might expect; the CGI effects are very impressive, so much so one is constantly tempted to freeze-frame individual shots to study their compositions. The detail is very high; in several shots this reviewer was amazed at the detail found in the plumage in some of the women's hats and even the pores on Blanchett's face are plainly visible in close-ups.

The audio, Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus (in English; an optional French Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 is also included) is up to contemporary standards, with the over-scoring dominating some scenes, and the sound really coming alive during the climatic battle. English and French subtitles are included. (The standard-def DVD adds a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 track and Spanish subtitles.)

Extra Features

Supplements, all in standard 480i/p, are the usual assortment of promotional featurettes, one of which annoyingly is "brought to you by..." a major car manufacturer, a shameless bit of incongruous, unwanted advertising. The Reign Continues: Making Elizabeth - The Golden Age, Commanding the Winds: Creating the Armada, Inside Elizabeth's World, and Towers, Courts, and Cathedrals, running a combined total of about 40 minutes, touch on various production aspects. Also included are eight minutes worth of deleted scenes and an audio commentary with the director, neither of which is mentioned on the packaging. The latter is somewhat interesting, with Kapur acknowledging but defending his many dramatic licenses.

Parting Thoughts

If you're going to watch a movie about Elizabeth I, the same-named Helen Mirren film is better all-around, but this continuation with Cate Blanchett (with a third film planned for sometime in the future) is okay if overwhelmed by its desire to dazzle the eye. Rent It.

Film historian Stuart Galbraith IV's latest book, Japanese Cinema, is now available for pre-order.