This movie is the sequel to "Elizabeth - The Virgin Queen" (1998) and, like all sequels, suffers from an inferiority complex towards the original film. It is a regular historical film, which depicts a key moment of Elizabeth I's reign of England: the Invincible Armada and the English resistance to Spanish ambitions. And Cate Blanchett (who continues to give life to the English queen) is still brilliant in her role, almost being able to become the queen that herself. Unfortunately, as in the first film, this effort follows without the merit and appreciation of the critics and the Hollywood Academy (the Oscar nomination for Best Actress that year did not pass that same). Geoffrey Rush continues to give body to Sir Francis Walsingham and do it with great talent and ability, even though his character has not here the strength it had previously. Clive Owen is perfect in the role of Sir Walter Raleigh and reaches, with this film, one of the most interesting works of his career so far.Historically, unlike the previous film, it didn't seem very able to be faithful to the truth. The script is too imaginative and too much focused on an unlikely and theatrical affair between the Queen and Walter Raleigh. The Spanish Armada is barely portrayed and the struggle between English and Spanish, the natural film climax, ends up being completely emptied of relevance, which makes no sense and puts in question the film edition, and the quality of the script. In fact, there was no ability to foresee the importance of this point for the film's outcome. If the director (Shekhar Kapur) and writers (William Nicholson and Michael Hirst) thought that Blanchett's great interpretation, a very good cast, scenery, clothes and some romantic suggestions would be enough to save the film, they're wrong. Do not make omelets without eggs, says the people, rightly so. This film had everything to be better, to match its predecessor, but a bad script and editing laid everything to lose.Despite its a very still and boring movie (sometimes seems that people have forgotten that they're almost to be invaded), this film is quite reasonable and worth seeing, especially for the excellent work of the actors.

*Spoiler/plot- Elizabeth, The Golden Age, 2007. Follows the times of Queen Elizabeth's court and the launching and outcome of the Spanish sea Armada battles. Walter Raleigh, Francis Walsingham, King Philip of Spain, Mary Queen of Scots intrigues are interwoven for a film plot.*Special Stars- Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Jordi Molla. *Theme- Being defensive and acting prepares a country for war.*Trivia/location/goofs- Made in England. To save money, only one ship replica was built. It was Raleigh's English vessel on one side and a Spanish galleon on the other. When filming wide shots of the deck, smoke was used to cover up any separation in design. Mary, Queen of Scots, was not originally part of the Babington Conspiracy. Walsingham, who wanted her executed, got one of the conspirators to act as a double agent, and entrap her.*Emotion- A lush and dramatic story of this era. Some historic 'liberties' have been taken to make the film plot more predictable and therefore somewhat boring near the end. Because the outcome is well known from history.*Based On- On a true story from a book.

The film received mostly negative reviews when it came out, and still has to this day. To my surprise, it's adequate, although fairly average, and not that far below the quality of the original. It benefits from having a more structured plot, and the storyline is more about rising action and a climax (unlike the first). Blanchett is also quite impressive and I actually expected to think she was over the top (like I feel she sometimes is) but I think she plays it brilliantly, certainly not a nomination or performance I dismiss. Overall, it's definitely not nearly as bad as reviews would make me believe and once again the best thing about it is Blanchett.

Elizabeth--The Golden Age is vastly inferior to the 1998 Elizabeth. Cate Blanchett is still very good as "the virgin Queen", but ..in essence..its really only more of the same, with a tardy script and some suspect acting. Clive Owen never gets to grips with his role as Sir Walter Raleigh, and is totally unconvincing. There is a lot of history to get through here and scenes that merited more time were rushed. The Spanish Armada was defeated in minutes..!!! It is visually a beautiful movie, and we can expect a final film. (Elizabeth died when she was 70.) Unfortunately i think the "game is up" for director Shekhar Kapur. His ace card was Elizabeth...and that card has been played.