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Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Shekhar Kapur

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Woman. Warrior. Queen.

Set 15 years after the events depicted in Elizabeth, The Golden Age tells the thrilling tale of an era - the story of one woman's crusade to control love, crush enemies and secure her position as a beloved icon of the western world.

As Elizabeth's (Cate Blanchett) cousin Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton) conspires with Philip of Spain (Jordi Mollà) to topple the throne, Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) - Elizabeth's trusty advisor, works tirelessly to protect her from the many plots and conspiracies against her. Preparing to go to war to defend her empire, Elizabeth struggles to balance royal duties with an unexpected vulnerability in her attraction to the dashing Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), a notorious privateer who has offered his services to the Queen.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Elizabeth: The Golden Age theatrical one sheet image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film England exploration Queen Elizabeth I golden age monarchy sequel Sir Walter Raleigh UK biography war Armada

Persons of interest

Jordi Mollà .... King Philip ll of Spain
Aimee King .... Infanta
Cate Blanchett .... Queen Elizabeth I
John Shrapnel .... Lord Howard
Geoffrey Rush .... Sir Francis Walsingham
Susan Lynch .... Annette
Samantha Morton .... Mary Stuart
Abbie Cornish .... Elizabeth Throckmorton
Penelope McGhie .... Margaret
Rhys Ifans .... Robert Reston
Eddie Redmayne .... Thomas Babington
Stuart McLoughlin .... Savage
Clive Owen .... Sir Walter Raleigh
Adrian Scarborough .... Calley
William Houston .... Don Guerau De Spes
Steven Loton .... Manteo
Martin Baron .... Wanchese
Steven Robertson .... Francis Throckmorton
Jeremy Barker .... Ramsey
George Innes .... Burton
Adam Godley .... William Walsingham
Kirstin Smith .... Mary Walsingham
Kelly Hunter .... Ursula Walsingham
Christian Brassington .... Archduke Charles
Robert Cambrinus .... Count Georg von Helfenstein
Tom Hollander .... Sir Amyas Paulet
Tim Preece .... Old Throckmorton
David Threlfall .... Dr John Dee
David Robb .... Admiral Sir William Winter
Laurence Fox .... Sir Christopher Hatton
Michael Hirst .... Screenwriter
William Nicholson .... Screenwriter
Shekhar Kapur .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Elizabeth: The Golden Age official movie site
Elizabeth: The Golden Age film production notes
Elizabeth: The Golden Age QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS - Oscars) 2008: Won: Best Achievement in Costume Design (Alexandra Byrne); Nominated: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Cate Blanchett)
Canberra International Film Festival 2007: Screening
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) 2008: Nominated: Actress In A Leading Role - Drama (Cate Blanchett)

See also Elizabeth, The Queen, The other Boleyn girl
Studios and distributors:

Universal Pictures

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Well, Elizabeth: The Golden Age is certainly epic in its scope but I wonder why anyone thought that it had to be made. The first one ended on a hugely dramatic moment which covered most of this movie. This movie tells us nothing that we didn't already know. I guess that it must have been the thought of all that money in people's pockets that desperately need to be acquired. God bless capitalism.

Your hard-earned dollars, once forked over, buy you frocks for days; Betty doesn't turn around without a wardrobe change. And there are more castles than you can shake a stick at. And a big battle with sailing ships and cannons and explosions and English weather. Our Cate™ is dramatic: powerful yet vulnerable, driven to succeed but in desperate need of reassurance. She's good.

Unfortunately, at nearly two hours, Elizabeth: The Golden Age is too drawn out. Some of that comes from frock-shock (like shell-shock but with bustières rather than bombs) but it's more then never-ending struggle of the story. Michael Hirst and William Nicholson need to get to the point a lot quicker.