Elizabeth: The Golden Age

"Where Kapur's first Elizabeth was cool, cerebral, fascinatingly concerned with complex plotting, the new movie is pitched at the level of a Jean Plaidy romantic novel."

"[Historical] inaccuracy isn't the biggest issue here. It's simply that Kapur, once again, has taken a story with plenty of juice and bled it into something pale and limp."

"This is a cold film that is filled with passion and anguish but it fails to stir any real emotion - just as Elizabeth keeps a certain distance from her subjects, Elizabeth: The Golden Age keeps a certain distance from its audience."

"Over-indulgent and melodramatic, as is the nature of artistic mythmaking, The Golden Age will beguile and repel in equal measure. The performances are supreme, although some viewers may struggle to reconcile the director’s epic intentions."

"All in all, Elizabeth The Golden Age is a lousy film with some great trappings. In a comfy seat, with a glass of sav', and a few friends to have a laugh with, you could do a lot worse..."

"While trying to do too much, this Elizabeth brings to mind that Elizabethan bard's line: "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"..."

"It's a wonderfully seductive, grandiose, unashamedly operatic portrayal of Queen Elizabeth's finest hour, and it's even more rousing because of the chinks already exposed in her armour. Kapur plays up every high note with arresting imagery that wouldn't be out of place in a 16th century royal portrait. Throw away the history books and behold the majesty."