Moving along, it’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Not that this movie wasn't fabulous, in its own, tapestry-mad way, but it wasn't great. It follows Elizabeth I from 1585 through the whole Spanish Armada thing and into the 1590s. Frankly, I think “Liz, Warrior Queen” is a more apt title, ...
... because most of the movie deals with the run up to the Armada battle, and I personally think of the Golden Age as coming after that with the Shakespeare and the colonies and the prosperity. But that’s me. Anyway, as she has done before (in the much better just-plain Elizabeth), Cate Blanchett brings it as Good Queen Liz, but somehow this part of the story falls flat. Despite the dramatic history going on, it never felt that exciting. I finally felt moved when she was in her very attractive armor and long ringlets, waving the flag and exhorting the troops to defend England (and, by her reasoning, rationality and freedom) against Spain (and, by implication, those crazy Papists and Inquistion-makers). I could see her point, but by then I was kind of exhausted from the whole thing.
Besides the Spanish Armada, there's the plotting of Mary, Queen of Scotland (Samantha Morton), to overthrow Liz, the follow-up beheading of the Queen of Tartans when her plots fail, and a good deal of detailed visual information on Elizabethan England's enhanced interrogation techniques, like the good old Iron Maiden and the rack. At any rate, you get an idea of where the term "bloody hell" might have entered the English language.
On the Queen's soft side, there’s some romantic intrigue involving the Liz, her Lady-in-Waiting Bess, and Sir Walter Raleigh, fresh from discovering Virginia. I'm usually not drawn to a man with chunky art-show rings, but I'd make a big old exception for Sir Walter Raleigh as so manly portrayed by Clive Owen. In my opinion, Clive Owen should always play manly, royal-type men (see, for example, his King Arthur). He makes you see how the people on that little, lovable island could take the world.
Anyway, if you love the story of QE I, and aren’t tired of it after seeing last year’s Golden-Globe and Emmy-winning HBO version with Helen Mirren, I say go for this one. It’s enjoyable if only because of the fantastic outfits and palaces and war tents and jewelry, from the days when a Queen could really show off and not feel like she had to drive her own Land Rover to Parliament.