In Shekhar Kapur’s sequel to his acclaimed historical drama Elizabeth (1998), Cate Blanchett is back as the steely and magnificent 'Virgin Queen". Beloved by her subjects, Good Queen Bess nevertheless is damned by other heads of state, most notably the conquering king of Spain (Jordi Molla), who deems her a devil-worshipping Protestant and the bastard usurper of a throne belonging to her Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen Of Scots (Samantha Morton). Elizabeth finds favour in the brash explorer and pirate, Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), and elicits his expertise once the Spanish bear down on England’s coastline.
Screenwriters Michael Hirst and William Nicholson strive to present a personal story against an epic backdrop. Thus, in addition to the showy state events, war councils and exciting battle sequences, we are privy to Elizabeth’s intimate moments with her handmaiden Bess (a lacklustre Abbie Cornish), her fury at betrayal, and her anguish over a ruler’s toughest decision. In a lesser actor’s hands, all this ranting would come across as scenery chewing histrionics, but Blanchett makes it work. Samantha Morton also dazzles with her passionate speeches. Although the two women never come face to face, their scenes balance each other well.
Again, Kapur plays fast and loose with historical facts to present high drama. For instance, was Raleigh truly a strategist against The Spanish Armada when he did not actually take part in the sea battles? Also, Kapur has pared back – to just a handful of shots – the prowling, spying camera angles that in Elizabeth seemed to personify the omnipresence of Geoffrey Rush’s supreme royal court manipulator Sir Francis Walsingham. But with Walsingham now in failing health, the inclusion of even these few shots seems random and pointless, and robs the film of one of its greatest characters.
A combination of director Shekhar Kapur’s relaxed approach to the facts, and the diminished role of Geoffrey Rush’s manipulative Sir Francis Walsingham, puts this a few notches below the powerful first film.
Filmink 3/5
