God Save The Queen

Cate Blanchett returns to her Oscar nominated roll as Elizabeth, The Virgin Queen, in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."

She was brilliant. As usual. That is the best thing I can say about this movie. Well, her performance and the top notch cinematography. There were some truly stunning shots in the movie. That however, does not make up for the mediocrity that plagues the rest of it.

I just found myself not caring about anything that was going on.

From the amazing trailer to the lackluster film. It was a major disappointment.

The rest of the cast seemed as if they were bored. Geoffrey Rush mumbled his way through the movie, barely showing an once of charisma or charm. I know he was supposed to be sick but really he was barely a blip on the screen. Clive Owen, who happens to be one of my favorite actors, barely caught my attention. Samantha Morton, same thing.

The only notable performance was Cate Blanchett and she saved this movie from being a total disaster.

The movie centers on the events leading up to Spain's attempt at invading England including a ridiculously flawed and pointless love triangle between Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth, and one of her ladies.

King Philip of Spain is played like a vaudeville villain. I kept waiting for an old time piano score to come on as he stumbled around the screen. That or him to start twirling his mustache. I may be ignorant of this time period or some illness Philip may have been stricken with but he had some strange sort of walk that made me want to get out of my chair and kick him in the ass.

His daughter seemed like she crawled out of the TV in The Ring. She spoke not a single line but still managed to ham up the screen.

Even the directing by Shakhar Kapur seemed lackluster. There was nothing of real note brought to the screen. It was a major step back from the original.

As I said, really the only saving grace of this movie was Cate Blanchett. She plays this role with such elegance, charisma, and grace that it is hard to to say she was not born to play this part. She IS Queen Elizabeth I.

The other positive of this was the cinematography of Remi Adefarasin. There were scenes of breathtaking beauty throughout the movie. Unfortunately, littered among them were just odd shots from weird angles. Almost as if were were supposed to be spying on what was happening. That experiment failed miserably.

Overall, I think the movie is worth at least a rental. If only to see another shining example of one of the best actresses working today. Dare I call Cate Blanchett the next Meryl Streep?

I wouldn't waste 11 bucks to see it in the theatre. Matinee price at most.