Review of Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Introduction

After reviewing the `Golden Edition` of `Elizabeth`, I was quite interested in seeing this at the cinema but I didn`t get there for one reason or another so I`ve had to wait until it appeared on DVD.

`Elizabeth` finished with `The Virgin Queen` as England`s supreme leader, having crushed her enemies and learned the nuances of politics and statecraft. `Elizabeth: The Golden Age` starts with a new enemy: Philip of Spain (Jordi Mollà), who wishes to conquer England and impose Catholicism through the Spanish Inquisition. He considers England to be an enemy of his empire and his religion, as Elizabeth permits freedom of religious practice - she will not punish people for what they believe, only for what they do. Her trusted advisor, Sir Frances Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) continues to head the equivalent of the secret service, diligently gathering information to protect his monarch.

As in `Elizabeth`, the unmarried Queen is still entertaining courtiers from around the world, when a dashing, cape-wearing privateer named Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) appears at court, having returned from the `New World` with some root vegetables, tobacco and a couple of Native Americans. The Queen finds Raleigh interesting and attractive, but so does her handmaiden Bess (Abbie Cornish).

Imprisoned on Elizabeth`s orders in Fotheringhay Castle, her catholic cousin, Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton) is in cahoots with Philip who considers her the true Queen of England. Secret messages are passed between Mary and Philip, who dispatches Robert Reston (Rhys Ifans), to lead an assassination attempt on Elizabeth. All Philip needs now is an excuse to unleash his feared Armada on the smaller English fleet when down comes the executioner`s axe on Mary`s neck…

It`s a shame that the disc begins with the excruciatingly irritating "You wouldn`t steal a..." anti-piracy warning, which has no place on a legitimate DVD. Universal must think that reviewers wear eye-patches, have a parrot on their shoulder and the skull and crossbones on their DVD players, as a `Property of Universal Pictures International Entertainment` warning appears in the middle of the screen every 10 minutes for about 35 seconds, completely breaking up the film and ruining any tense scenes.

Video

A stunning costume drama, with terrific sets and locations and special visual effects that are amazing, considering the budget they had to work with. Some of the darker scenes aren`t as clear as they could or should be, but for the most part the transfer is excellent.

Audio

There are Dolby Digital 5.1 English and French soundtracks available. I only listened to the English one and it is terrific, with a wonderful soundstage, a superb score by Craig Armstrong and A.R. Rahman and clear dialogue throughout.

There are subtitles in 9 languages: French, Dutch, Arabic, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and English (HoH).

Features

The main menu is preceded by trailers for `Atonement`, `Definitely, Maybe?`, `Charlie Wilson`s War`, `The Other Boleyn Girl` and `Billy Elliot: The Musical`.

Deleted Scenes - eight in total, none essential to the film, but worth a quick look. Strangely, there is no information to tell you why they were removed.

The Reign Continues: Making `Elizabeth: The Golden Age` - A decent 11 minute `making of`, including interviews with principle members of the cast and crew.

Inside Elizabeth`s World - Amusingly subtitled `Brought to you by Volkswagen`, this 7 minute piece has no signs of German cars, but is an interesting look into the creation of the interiors and the work that was put in by production designer Guy Dyas.

Commanding the Winds: Creating the Armada - This 12 minute segment shows how visual effects were used to digitally create the Armada and to combine blue-screen footage of the full-size model of Raleigh`s ship, `Tiger`, with sea plates to create realistic images.

Towers, Courts and Cathedrals - An 11 minute featurette on the historical locations, such as the cathedrals of Wells and Ely and Cambridge University, showing the unusual camera angles used and the painstaking process of hiding modern fittings and shooting around prayer services.

The commentary with Shekhar Kapur, which is subtitled in the same languages as the main feature, is interesting and informative, but sometimes leans towards self indulgence.

Conclusion

Released nearly ten years after `Elizabeth`, `The Golden Age` shows an aging Queen, again superbly played by Cate Blanchett, but is a film with a much wider scope, resulting in a less focused piece, with too much going on. `Elizabeth` was a much smaller film, concentrating on court dramas and political machinations, whereas this is more concerned with the international picture, bringing in Spain, France and the `New World`. I got the feeling that this wanted to be a bit more epic and mirror current events, with Philip as a religious fundamentalist and the government employing some fairly horrendous torture techniques to uncover terrorist plots.

Shekhar Kapur has probably set his bar too high trying to include too many events in too short a time - it doesn`t feel that enough attention has been paid to any one event before another comes along. Strangely, for a film with this title, there`s not a lot of `golden age` to be seen, with political and religious turmoil, threats to England, Elizabeth and a Holy War in Europe. Although Elizabeth can be seen happily riding a horse alongside Walter Raleigh, it`s not too long before she`s addressing the troops at the mouth of the Thames, dressed as Joan of Arc while the English and Spanish navies confront each other.

If you want to see a film that is probably more representative of England during the `golden age`, watch `Shakespeare in Love` - a wittier and more enjoyable movie than this. On the other hand, if you want to see the political events that shaped that period in the late 16th century and don`t mind too much about the odd historical inaccuracy, give this a try, but it`s an inferior film to its predecessor.