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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Elizabeth

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by: Michael Hirst
Directed by: Shekhar Kapur
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 6, 1998
DVD: May 25, 1999
Running Time: 121 minutes, Color
Origin: UK
Summary
RATING: R for violence and sexuality
Starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough, Sir John Gielgud, and Judi Dench
This historical drama chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth I, from her days as an innocent young woman through her transformation into England's legendary "Virgin Queen." Formidable. Untouchable. Unbeatable... (Gramercy Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Elizabeth: The Golden Age The Four Feathers
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
This historical epic about the "virgin queen" of England's early life moves with the crackling urgency of a contemporary political thriller.
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
The fabulous Elizabeth reinvents English Tudor history as gangster movie.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
Superior historical soap opera that shrewdly sidesteps all the cliches of British costume drama with its bold, often modern approach.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Where Elizabeth really triumphs over its dusty source material is in transforming all this boring history into a real, rip-roaring adventure tale.
Read Full Review >Film.com Peter Brunette
What's best about the film is not the hot romance, but the coldness that lies at its heart.
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The texture of the film is enough to recommend it, even apart from the story.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
A fascinating whirl of politics and palace intrigue.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
This is a sensual, psychologically modern costume drama influenced by both "The Godfather" and gals' guides to empowerment.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Laura Miller
A handsome, diverting coming-of-intrigue story studded with meaty performances.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
Elizabeth's most triumphant aspect is Blanchett's transformation from saucy, spirited toe-tapper to iconic Virgin Queen.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
This Elizabeth is presented as a glamorously stressed-out modern woman who must cope with a super-intense case of having it all.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
This darkly sumptuous, hypnotically complex movie ought to have many constituencies.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Jack Matthews
Period movies inevitably reflect more about the period in which they're made than the period of their subject, and rarely has that been more evident -- or more distracting -- than it is with Elizabeth.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Russell Smith
Despite the florid trailers' emphasis on bodice-ripping romantic imagery, Elizabeth is above all a political thriller.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Elizabeth works in a number of ways. It's a feminist film. It's also a kind of spy thriller and a superior historical drama.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Acted and directed with great energy and imagination.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego
History rendered with enough brains and imagination to more than make up for its few stumbles.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
It's a rousing adventure that keeps the audience involved for the entirety of the two hour running time while opening a window into the culture that gave birth to Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Francis Bacon, and William Shakespeare.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Bad history it may be, but Elizabeth is a movie that makes you want more, as it plays to the myth of history's great actress-monarch, a character who puts today's tinselly political heros and heroines (royal and not), to shame.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The film belongs to Blanchett -- this hellcat Virgin Queen is something to see.
Read Full Review >Newsweek Jeff Giles
Kapur can't decide if he's making an art movie or a melodrama, an opera or a soap opera.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Jean Oppenheimer
Although frustratingly confusing -- often the viewer can't be sure who is on which side or why -- the film brims with physical grandeur, exquisite costumes, and a captivating performance by Blanchett.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The movie -- directed in such a frenziedly self-conscious style you often wonder whether the camera will topple over on his actors.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
But much of it, like its subject, is so cryptic, distractingly stylish, and impenetrably posed that it's rough going most of the way.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Whether the story's bald ironies are historical cliches or just dramatic ones, they convey only platitudes about gender, sexuality, and power.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Sandra Contreras
The conspicuous lack of emotional resonance makes this film "Queen Margot's" poor cold English cousin.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
A notably undynamic treatment of Protestant Elizabeth I's ascension to the British throne.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Ron Wells
All of the nutty editing and the loud score just grated on my nerves and failed the story.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Eric C gave it a3:
Saw this for the first time a few days ago, and I'm astonished by how bad a film it is. How do you take such an interesting and entertaining slice of history and turn it in to such a bland, unengaging movie? Too often, the movie is overdramatic when it needs to be subtle. The actors bounce around from overacting to just phoning in their perfomances (which is wildly disapointing considering the incredible cast). The director is clueless how to shoot the movie, clearly believing all that is needed to establish mood and atmosphere is turning down the lights. The script is completely generic and empty period babble (those that compare this to the Godfather; have you ever even seen the Godfather?). And the edidting, my god. The scenes are just lazily slapped together, giving the film an awful and confounding flow that I can only compare to a daytime soap opera. Obviously, fans of period epics will gobble this up (and the Academy loves them some period epics). For everyone else, this is just a massive mess of a movie. I can't even imagine what the universally panned sequel was like.
Auska P. gave it a10:
I just love Cate. She is just a perfect Elizabeth!!
Ken B gave it a10:
This is a great period piece, period.
Stupac gave it a10:
If the only flaw you can find in this movie is the historical inaccuracy, then you should realize that this movie isn't a book report. It's not a historical documentary. Any inadequacies are meant to drive the story or provide elements of the overall theme: how Elizabeth overcame all the plotting against her and consolidated her power... As far as I'm concerned, this movie is the Godfather of period epics. If you want to learn the facts about Elizabeth (or anything for that matter), take a class or read a book. This is a movie, and it's about feeling and meaning. So enjoy it.
Sonya W. gave it a0:
THe worst. Nothing accurate about it save the fact Elizabeth was Henry VIII's daughter. After that bit of fact, the rest of it goes sharply downhill. Costumes are nice. If you know nothing about the history, you'll be entertained, if you know the facts, you'll be disgusted.
Briannna D. gave it a 10:
I thought this movie was awsome!I had recently finished a report on Queen Elizabeth and they didn't miss one detail.
Hannah W. gave it a 9:
Fantastic, Kapur's use of colour is fantastic! A great Brithish film. I recomend anyone to see it you wants to find out about how brutal British history really was!
