Elizabeth

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.

Variety David Rooney

Superior historical soap opera that shrewdly sidesteps all the cliches of British costume drama with its bold, often modern approach.

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.

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.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A fascinating whirl of politics and palace intrigue.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

This is a sensual, psychologically modern costume drama influenced by both "The Godfather" and gals' guides to empowerment.

Salon.com Laura Miller

A handsome, diverting coming-of-intrigue story studded with meaty performances.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Elizabeth's most triumphant aspect is Blanchett's transformation from saucy, spirited toe-tapper to iconic Virgin Queen.

Slate David Edelstein

The movie's approach makes for juicy melodrama.

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.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Bollywood meets The Godfather.

Time Richard Schickel

This darkly sumptuous, hypnotically complex movie ought to have many constituencies.

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.

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

Despite the florid trailers' emphasis on bodice-ripping romantic imagery, Elizabeth is above all a political thriller.

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.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Acted and directed with great energy and imagination.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

History rendered with enough brains and imagination to more than make up for its few stumbles.

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.

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.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The film belongs to Blanchett -- this hellcat Virgin Queen is something to see.

Newsweek Jeff Giles

Kapur can't decide if he's making an art movie or a melodrama, an opera or a soap opera.

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.

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.

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.

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.

TV Guide Sandra Contreras

The conspicuous lack of emotional resonance makes this film "Queen Margot's" poor cold English cousin.

USA Today Mike Clark

A notably undynamic treatment of Protestant Elizabeth I's ascension to the British throne.

Film Threat Ron Wells

All of the nutty editing and the loud score just grated on my nerves and failed the story.