It may have been a gamble for director Shekhar Kapur to pick up the threads of his acclaimed film Elizabeth from nine years earlier but the result is overtly satisfying
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11/09/07
Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
34
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:161
Fresh:55
Rotten:106
Average Rating:5.1/10
Consensus: This sequel is full of lavish costumes and elaborate sets, but lacks the heart and creativity of the original Elizabeth
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $16,264,475
Synopsis: Reprising the roles they originated in seven-time Academy Award®-nominated Elizabeth, Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush return for a gripping historical thriller laced with treachery and... [More]
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Rhys Ifans
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Reviews for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Top CriticClick to read the article
11/16/07
Top CriticRich in colour, sumptuous costumes, political intrigues and the personal relationships which dominate Elizabeth once more.
11/02/07
Top CriticA pedigreed romance, an excuse for Blanchett to bind herself in satin and channel Kate Hepburn.
02/21/08
Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age, from a screenplay by William Nicholson and Michael Hirst, turned out to be more rousingly entertaining than many of its less-than-lukewarm reviews had led me to anticipate.
10/17/07
See it anyway for Blanchett's soulful modulation between queenly command and womanly anguish.
11/02/07
Golden Age starts well, and with sharp wit and crisp dialogue. But as the story moves toward the tentative romance with Raleigh, the film drifts into melodrama...
10/20/07
An Elizabethan-era version of the madcap energy, penny-novel intrigue and intentional historical inaccuracies of Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge!.
10/21/07
This is an epic, to be sure, but it is also a melodrama, a soap opera of titanic scale and bluster.
02/28/08
Golden Age rides off the rails, taking the legend of Elizabeth to the next level of mythology. Frankly, the acceleration is bliss.
10/11/07
Through it all, whether in muslin nightie, damask gown or silvery armor, Blanchett commands the screen as she commands the royal navy. Her unforced majesty makes a so-so film worth watching.
10/11/07
It's flawed and it does feel longer because the big finale is less like a battle and more like an on-screen version of battleship, but Cate and Clive are still worth a look.
10/27/07
The Golden Age feels like two movies: one a bodice-ripping romance, the other a study in statecraft and power. But these strands, one private, one public, come together in the title character and the balancing act she must master.
10/12/07
Bogus history can make a crackling good adventure yarn, and Kapur piles on the treachery and romance.
10/12/07
...a feast for the eyes and a portrait of a leader who has to rely as much on herself as anyone else when her nation is under attack.
10/12/07
Despite all that’s going for it, you can’t help thinking this movie could have been so much better.
11/02/07
It's a full-scale star performance in every sense...and I wouldn't be surprised if, like Helen Mirren last year, Blanchett walks away with an Elizabethan Oscar.
10/04/07
If this is a film that irritates nearly as much as it pleases, we do get a sense of the times, and of the lady in question. The eyes, if not the brain, are certainly given a workout that they will remember.
11/02/07
Elizabeth's appeal is that she was womanly and feminine while deftly executing matters of state in a time when men ruled most of the world.
10/12/07
Impeccably shot and acted, but essentially a great-looking cliche-filled period film that carries very little weight or emotional impact.
09/12/07
Latest News for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
February 04, 2009:
Exclusive: Inside Pinewood/Shepperton - A Photo Tour
Every year, the BAFTA film awards present a trophy for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Introduced in 1978, the award recognises an organisation or a person's career... More...
October 27, 2008:
EnglandDVD.com: Cate Blanchett's workaholic Queen Liz too busy for boy toys, in this royal runway strut more about fashion statements than political statements. 
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RT on DVD: The Brave One, Assassination of Jesse James Fire Onto DVD
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December 13, 2007:
Atonement Leads Golden Globe Nominations
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