Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Are sequels ever as good as the prequels? Sometimes. Elizabeth: The Golden Age is one of those cases where the prequel was better than the sequel. This movie is the sequel to Elizabeth, which was made in 1998.

An older and more sophisticated Cate Blanchett, this Australian does a fine job portraying the British Queen, as she also did playing a mystical royal Elf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In The Golden Age, Elizabeth must deal with finding a suitor (does she have a crush on Sir Walter Raleigh?), in addition to living in terror of assassination from her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, who claims to be the legitimate heir to the thrown. And let's not forget the invasion of the Spanish Armada who sought to destroy England because of their dealings with the devil by becoming Protestant rather than Catholic.

Elizabeth overcomes several of her adversities, though not all of them, but does rule England for over 45 years. One of the best lines from the movie comes from when Sir Walter Raleigh, played by Clive Owen, claims that he has acquired land in America and named it Virginia in honor of the Virgin Queen. She responds with, "When I marry, will you rename it Conjugia?" I'm still laughing at that.

The movie is stricken with some slower dialog and more silent acting overlayed with music than the first movie. The battle with the Spanish Armada, I thought, should have been more climactic, as it destroyed the world's largest super power and ascended England to it's nearly 400 year reign as the new world superpower.

Overall, I give this movie 3 stars. I wanted to like it more, but it just didn't reach the benchmark set by the first Elizabeth. However, it is still a fine depiction of one of England's finest and most regarded rulers. Do you think Hillary could ever live up to this great female ruler?