Costumes glitter in 'Golden Age'

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 12, 2007 by Eleanor O'Sullivan Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE -- ** -- Cate Blanchett, Clive Owen, Geoffrey Rush; rated PG-13 (violence, sex, nudity)

If it's a period piece about royal battles for domination of land and sea, then heads must roll. And roll they do in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," the latest installment in the saga of Her Highness the Queen of England, Elizabeth I, circa 1585.

The battle is over whether the Protestants under Elizabeth will rule the world or the Catholics, under Philip of Spain, will run the show.

Philip starts the fight; Elizabeth is happy to let her Catholic subjects, who make up about half of England's population, go about their business, as long as they are loyal to the crown. Philip doesn't buy her largess, and he fears her armada.

Before the war starts, Elizabeth is tied up in knots over a newcomer to the court, Walter Raleigh, who has eyes for the queen's lady in waiting, Bess. Walter is a ship's captain looking for the queen's financial backing of his next trip to the New World. She's so smitten, she's about to support him.

But then he falls for Bess, because she's young and beautiful and because the queen is steely and devoted above all to her royal duties. The plot thickens.

What would seem to be your garden-variety soap opera is elevated to a toney costumed epic starring Cate Blanchett again as the queen. Blanchett, who also starred in "Elizabeth" (1998), is rather imperious and pale, so even Elizabeth's lust for Raleigh doesn't quite ignite on the screen.

Moreover, Raleigh is played by Clive Owen, an actor firmly planted in a modern sensibility and style. Owen smirks and arches his eyebrows, indicating a certain irony that one feels the real Raleigh couldn't have indulged in the queen's court.

Abbie Cornish is prim and lovely as lady in waiting Bess, and she softens Blanchett in their after-hour scenes as just a couple of gals smoking dope and giggling over cute men.

Geoffrey Rush gives his usual commanding in a foppish way performance as Sir Francis, Elizabeth's adviser. Sir Francis instigates surveillance that helps propel misunderstandings into war. A victim of this serpentine series of events is Mary Queen of Scots, portrayed by Samantha Morton with a wavering Scottish accent. Mary is just one of the unfortunate victims of the head-rolling style of execution.

A production note says that history has been rewritten for the sake of dramatic momentum in "Elizabeth." What they don't say is that absent authenticity, there is little in this "Golden Age" to distinguish it from other filmed royal soap operas-- except for the costumes by Alexandra Byrne.

By no means leave before you see the final frames showing Elizabeth in a costume to beat all, giving her a gilded cage presence.

"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is rated PG-13 for violence, some sexuality and nudity. Running time: 114 minutes.