Cate Blanchett is, of course, so totally awesome. She is one of the best actresses of our time not to mention one of my favorites. (Right now it's a tie between her and Renee Zellweger) The First Royal Elizabeth was the role she was born to play. She knocked it out of the park in the first movie, earning an oscar nomination and breaking out into the front ranks of cinematic actresses.
She returns to form in this sequel as an older Elizabeth. She very much looks the part, the costumes and makeup are stunning, the set decorecations command authenticity, and she speaks in a very regal tone of voice. If only she had something to say. This is without a doubt one of the biggest letdowns of the year.
It may even be one of the biggest letdowns ever. I had some seriously high expectations for this movie. On paper it looked fantastic. It had the same director of the first movie, the same stunning actress, and the addition of Clive Owen. And its not like this project would run afoul in the usual problems with sequels. Since this is a historical biopic, the plot is already taken care of. And what a plot: The Spanish Armada. There's enough here for an epic tale. How could anyone possibly screw this up.
For one thing, the idiotic writers brought into central focus the one aspect of Elizabeth that was the least interesting, her love life. Imagine my surprise and chagrin when I realized I was witnessing a love triangle between Elizabeth, her lady in waiting, and Clive Owen. This is a travesty. What were they thinking? Elizabeth is a righteous babe, and Cate Blanchett is a terrific actress. There is one scene in this movie where she shouts fury at a Spanish ambassador. The line is, "I too can command the wind sir! I have a hurricane inside me that will strip Spain bare if you dare to try me!!!" This is incredibly cool, but then the next scene she is fretting over Mr. Owen and the Armada is completely forgotten. It isn't even really explained actually and the final battle isn't
really climatic because I didn't understand who was where and what the stakes actually were. Blanchett makes a speech to an infantry army, but those soldiers didn't actually fight in the battle for you see it was a naval battle. What is going on here? They really screwed the pooch. It's a super shame since this story deserves to be retold and this movie needs to be remade, except next time they probably won't be fortunate enough to get Cate Blanchett to play Elizabeth.
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