Consider the women who have played the part of Elizabeth the First over the years . . . Flora Robson (Fire Over England - 1937), Bette Davis (Elizabeth and Essex - 1939), Glenda Jackson (Mary, Queen of Scots - 1972), Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love - 1998), all of them at the top of their game, much like Elizabeth herself. She was ruler of England at the pivotal moment when Philip of Spain launched the Spanish Armada.

This great fleet threatened to bring Elizabeth down and Catholicize her nation. Enter Cate Blanchett, who may not have been convincing as Kathryn Hepburn in The Aviator, but definitely rules as queen in Elizabeth the Golden Age, reprising the role she first gave in Elizabeth (1998), commanding both her country and all of her co-stars in this opulent production that, in this sequel, presents Elizabeth like some regal showgirl, seen "backstage" constantly changing gowns and wigs to make the most formidable appearances, as she tells the oily Spanish ambassador to "go back to his rathole" after his rather undiplomatic remarks about her reputation, or as she arrests the two people closest to her for romantic treason, her lady in waiting, Bess (Abbie Cornish) and the rogueish Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), whom the queen loves.

And none of these comments are to be seen as criticism, for I loved this movie from the first minute, because of the grand scale authenticity, both in performances from all concerned, set in the convincing halls of power . . . an engrossing look at the Tudor court on the brink of becoming an empire.

The actual battle scenes thwarting the Spanish Armada at sea had a dreamlike quality about them . . . an effect that added up to fiery climax to the queen's Joan of Arc-like rally-the-troops speech at Tilbury shore, as good as the one Shakespeare wrote for his Henry V at Agincourt on Saint Crispin's Day in 1415.

This motion picture does not suffer from many shortcomings, and any that might be noted were easily outshined by Blanchett's performance, at times authoritarian and brusque, and at other times, vulnerable and tender. The total effect is an honest and valid look at the life and times of a great queen, one who agonized at executing her cousin, Mary, but did it nonetheless. . . a queen who saw her place in history quite clearly and reigned with balance and justice.

It is a epic film.

-- Thomas Ormsby

-- Thomas Ormsby