Real Review - Elizabeth: The Golden Age HD DVD

Expectations were high for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, the sequel to the successful Elizabeth. Shekhar Kapur was back on board as director; Cate Blanchett would revise her award-winning role as Queen Elizabeth; and Clive Owen was signed-up to be Elizabeth’s love interest, Sir Walter Raleigh. This episode promised the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Surely the costumes, cinematography, and make-up would rival the splendor of Elizabeth.

Surprisingly, audiences were mixed upon the release of Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It seems as if all of what made Elizabeth good and noteworthy was here in spades, yet something was missing. In a word, what was missing was its soul. Instead of building on the success of Elizabeth, all involved were content to simply regurgitate that film. And in doing so, they forgot the chief element in all good fiction: an interesting plot with an engaging hero.

In Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett played the coming-of-age young woman cast into the whirlwind court life of sixteenth-century England. We connected with her character because she was as an innocent cast into the lion’s den and we rooted for her to succeed, to become a strong monarch. In Elizabeth: The Golden Age, though, we don’t have such a character, but instead we have a flirty, jealous matriarch who knows how to strike a regal pose, but yet can hardly muster a humble smile.

Can the plot of this film simply be her schoolgirl crush on Sir Walter Raleigh and childish behavior with her ladies in waiting? This two hour movie features the exciting destruction of the Spanish Armada in the final ten to fifteen minutes. The vast majority of the plot revolves around nothing of much importance, except the Queen is still looking for a suitor and the Spanish are still threatening her wicked reign.

Without a doubt, the costuming and make-up are par excellence. The lace work and silks of the dresses are a marvel to behold. Having said that, I can’t understand why the lighting design of the film was so inconsistent. Some scenes were bold, sharp, and colorful, but far too many were washed-out, tending toward yellow skin tones, and flat. I don’t know if the director is to blame for the “look” of the film, but it was not satisfactory to my eyes. Lastly, I absolutely hated the musical soundtrack: a mixed bag of holy-angels-singing-on-high to Enya-esque ambient synthesizers. Here’s an idea for the film makers: use period music on authentic instruments next time.

I watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age on HD DVD and, as noted above, I found the PQ to be a mixed bag. Some scenes were deliciously sharp, bright, and bold; while others were swampy, DVD-like. There is simply no excuse for this movie not to be top-tier. Unfortunately, it is nowhere close to being so. I listened to the Dolby Digital TrueHD audio track and it was decent, though mostly undistinguished. There is the usual raft of extras on the disc, but I was so disappointed with the film, that I felt no compunction to check them out.

Rating: 6.5Source Chuck’s Movie Reviews

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