An unlikely sequel to 1998’s Elizabeth, ‘The Golden Age’ is a loose construction of events surrounding the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Late sixteenth century Europe and Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) finds her rule affronted by Spanish King Phillip II (Jordi Mollà). Seeking to balance duty with her love for explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), this Virgin Queen must become a ‘Warrior Queen’ if she is to defeat the Spanish and uphold her throne.
They say:
The House Next Door: "No amount of 360-degree twirls or hallowed shafts of light can distract from this monarch's essential emptiness."
rogerebert.com: "This film rides low in the water, its cargo of opulence too much to carry."
San Francisco Chronicle: "Kapur mostly avoids the stiltedness of historical dramas by titillating us with sexual as well as political intrigues…including the vaguest hint of a ménage a trois."
We say:
If you felt the original Elizabeth was driven too much by a need to be the most exciting film ever when it could have been a dignified story of noble destiny, you are going to be downright fed up with this sequel.
Treating history like a novel, by adapting all the best bits and ignoring the truth, would be acceptable if The Golden Age glossed fact over fiction and still remained exciting.
But even with its sexy air (Elizabeth’s lusty ladies in waiting resemble wenches from a Hammer horror film), majestic sets, double crossing spies and thundering score, this is a draining mess.
Cate Blanchett is possibly the most talented actress working in mainstream film. Her Elizabeth is captivating. She never puts a foot wrong, even in the presence of the dull Abbie Cornish as Bess or Clive Owen’s chronically limp Sir Walter Raleigh.
Geoffrey Rush too lends a subtle grandeur to his scenes, be they few and far between. His final moments are relegated to a spluttering epilogue not worthy of his significant role in the overall plot.
Samantha Morton (fresh from a remarkable turn in Control) plays Mary Queen of Scots to the hilt, fully matching the gravitas of both Rush and Blanchett.
With its unintentionally amusing melodramatic tone, you feel as though Elizabeth might leap out of court and stab her conspirators with a quill at any given moment. Whole sequences build with the tension of a Bourne film, and then play out with all the excitement of a Latin book club. Talk, talk, talk, talk.
Even the Armada battle is disappointing. Just an overdose of computer animation, a wind machine and a whole mess of sound effects – it hardly justifies the considerable wait.
The most fascinating moments in The Golden Age all involve the deceptive skulduggery of Mary Queen of Scots. It can be difficult to follow the machinations of her important subplot, but the outcome is a vivid, really quite memorable moment of cinema. It is a shame that Morton shares no screen time with Blanchett, as their predictably shrewd verbal taunts would have livened up proceedings no end.
Certainly director Shekhar Kapur has moulded a modern political parallel, implying, as he does so fervently, that many of the world's problems stem from religion. This, of course, is a lie, as all the world's problems stem from religion. Kapur’s vision does not go far enough - instead he focuses on a rather silly love triangle when the treacherous affairs of state that provoke a war with Spain are far more interesting.
The Golden Age is as dumb as history gets. Anyone who remembers Arnold Schwarzenegger’s spoof of Hamlet during The Last Action Hero will recognise its blundering attempt to mix action movie production values with wigs and heaving bosoms and react accordingly. Mostly by laughing, sometimes by snoring.
CAST
Cate Blanchett
Geoffrey Rush
Clive Owen
Samantha Morton
DIRECTOR
Shekhar Kapur
TIME
114 mins
POSTED...
Sun 4 Nov 2007 at 9:48am
