Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Filipe Neto 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.

aleugene If your looking for a history lesson, you'd do better with Toy Story. This fluff-piece is a joke compared to its predecessor which has as much historical value as a wooden nickel. Apparently, according to this film, Elizabeth Tudor whined and whimpered and yelled all her queenly life in over-lit hallways that suggest that the halogen lamp was invented in the 16th century. Not a shadow to be seen on these movie sets. This time around, Elizabeth mopes and screams and whines like a jilted fifteen year old. Her maid in waiting, Bess Throckmorton, apparently missed all her acting classes because she could do nothing more than stare and vaguely smile. Clive Owen, who shows no more acting ability beyond that of a disembodied foot, looks like a cheap cartoon version of Errol Flynn in tights as he bandies around on ship ropes. He obviously texted in his role, sounding almost as dull and talentless as Liam Neeson doing Shakespeare. Even Bette Davis' version with Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland, another fluff piece, had the smarts to portray Elizabeth as a real queen, acerbic, angry, confused, intimidating to her suitors, but ultimately capable of running a powerful country, taking up more space than her underlings. Here, Cate Blanchett, whines and sobs like she had just failed her SATS and does nothing more important than wear clothes. Some scenes are so ridiculous, you'd thing you were watching a back story of the making of Project Runway. Cate Blanchett, in this version, seemed more interested in the buffet for the cast members than acting like she ruled one of the most powerful forces in European history. The only interesting piece centers on the revisionist version of Mary, Queen of Scots. Unfortunately, like half the film, her demise is filmed entirely in slow motion, making her drawn-out execution last longer than her actual life. This film would have cost half the time to watch if they hadn't filmed so much of it in slo-mo. Snore. This is the crib notes to history, lazily made for coasting high-schoolers, most of whom cheat on tests and are no more interested in actual history than the wigs on their head and their designer's dresses. Which brings us to the trumped-up reason for Elizabeth's white makeup and hair pieces. In this film, the writers want to give the impression that Elizabeth's most important decision was to become a born-again virgin. In reality, she suffered from eczema, lice and rickets. Her appearance and hair faux paus were more an excuse to cover up those maladies, not a goth need to look wacky to her subjects. While the previous film suffers from revisionism and loose attention to history books, it has beauty and depth this film lampoons. At worst, the first film avoids looking like it's brightly filmed on the set of "Friends." And, strangely, in a story about an historical figure whose beauty, or loss of it, Cate Blanchett is not only very attractive but the only character that doesn't age. My advice: stop reading magazines about body consciousness, get the heck off your pointless cell phones, stop watching "Stupid Vapid Housewives from Any County, and read a book on this amazing woman in English history. She took up a lot more space than this waste of celluloid implies.

Ruben Malayan (RubenMalayan) I must admit, I am a sucker for historical films. But this one just confirmed what I see time and time again in the modern cinema - you may have all the money in the world, incredible cast, unbelievable production level and breath-taking art, but if your story and script are weak and the director lacks vision and pace - it will be a failure. This movie is a perfect example of that. The characters are very underdeveloped, the only one which is actually impressive is that of the King of Spain. Editing lacks pace, there is no climax and most of the time I wondered where all this is going? Ridley Scott should have directed this film and he'd make a masterpiece.

Neil Welch Synopsis: Feisty redhead Lizzie Tudor relishes her executive position, but her love life leaves something to be desired, and she also has to watch out for backstabbing colleagues and competitors. She falls for sea captain Wally Raleigh, but he betrays her with her best friend. So she plots her revenge, only to find she needs his help to see off a challenge from her Spanish competitors.This story of intrigue and suspense at the highest level is densely plotted and well acted by an excellent cast and Clive Owen. Production value is high and the film looks terrific - gorgeous locations, sets and costumes, and good special effects.Allegedly based on a true story, I'm not sure how accurate it is, though.