Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Elizabeth: The Golden Age Image
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Metascore
45 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 57 Ratings

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  • Starring: Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush
  • Summary: Elizabeth: The Golden Age finds Queen Elizabeth facing bloodlust for her throne and familial betrayal. Growing keenly aware of the changing religious and political tides of late-16th-century Europe, Elizabeth finds her rule openly challenged by the Spanish King Philip II, who with his powerful army and sea-dominating armada is determined to restore England to Catholicism. Preparing to go to war to defend her empire, Elizabeth struggles to balance ancient royal duties with an unexpected vulnerability in her love for Raleigh. But he remains forbidden for a queen who has sworn body and soul to her country. Unable and unwilling to pursue her love, Elizabeth encourages her favorite lady-in-waiting, Bess, to befriend Raleigh to keep him near. But this strategy forces Elizabeth to observe the growing intimacy of the other two. As she charts her course abroad, her trusted advisor, Sir Francis Walsingham, continues his masterful puppetry of Elizabeth's court at home to end her campaign to solidify absolute power. (Universal Pictures)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 35
  3. Negative: 2 out of 35
  1. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    Expect a fast-paced, beautifully mounted and well-acted soap opera with overripe dialogue that plays fast and loose with history - just like they did in the '30s, '40s and '50s - and you won't come away disappointed.
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: Will Lawrence
    60
    Over-indulgent and melodramatic, as is the nature of artistic mythmaking, The Golden Age will beguile and repel in equal measure. The performances are supreme, although some viewers may struggle to reconcile the director’s epic intentions.
  3. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    58
    Too bad Kapur's new, glittering sequel also shows up feeling prematurely old, square, and cautious. A production of exquisitely complicated wigs and expensively grand wide shots, it pauses often to admire its own beauty, leery of messing with previous success.
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    33
    So instead of history and drama, we get images, many of them striking but none of them memorable, and noise that deafens until no sense can escape. The events beg for Shakespearean gravity, but the only tragedy here is that so little could be made of so much.

See all 35 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 35
  3. Negative: 10 out of 35
  1. TimurR.
    10
    This highly underrated film is actually quite brilliantly directed with one of the best performances of all time. I am sure the studios cut it as it could have used another hour. However, this talk of being historically accurate is simply unfair. I don't know of any movies that are historically accurate. They are not lectures, they are art! If you want history, listen to some lectures or read a book. This is to give you the experience of the time. And as for bombastic, overripe and all the other nonsense comments, well I guess if a film shows some emotion, it is too much for our cynical age.… Expand
  2. FrankM.
    8
    I had a great time watching this melodrama. The people who enjoyed the first one seem to dislike this one for being over the top and corny but forget that "Elizabeth" was pretty much the same.… Expand
  3. Trev29
    7
    Cate was a very convincing queen. It was kind of boring at times, but I don't think the critics got it right. She put on an amazing performance and that is worth watching it for.… Expand
  4. JillP.
    4
    Patently silly from start to finish. The whole thing seems like an endlessly long perfume ad, complete with billowing gauze and guttering candles in nearly every scene. All style, no substance, a movie does not make.… Expand

See all 35 User Reviews

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