| Overall Grade: |
B |
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| Story: |
A- |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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|
| Direction: |
B |
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|
| Visuals: |
B |
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|
First one was far superior
by The Critiquer also Ringfan (movies profile)
Dec 7, 2007
7
of
9 people found this review helpful
35 years have now passed, and Elisabeth I is well into her reign. King Philip II of Spain desires to see the bastard whore Queen of England off the throne and dead for being a Protestant. He sends his naval armada to England for a confrontation. Meanwhile, Mary Queen of Scots also desires the throne of England and send in assassins to attempt to kill the Queen.
Again, the spies are thwarted by Francis Walsingham and are done in as is Mary. A dashing pirate in the form of Walter Raleigh woos the queen yet unbeknownst to her, he impregnats Bess her Lady-in-waiting. The English succeed in destroying the Spanish armada.
Cate Blanchett is always in top form here, as is Geoffrey Rush, but unfortuntely, he's not as snake-like as he was in the first film. We should have been left with only that. I could easily tell this was truly William Nicholson's screenplay not Michael Hirst's. Hirst's script for the first film was so original, literate and 85% accurate that it is much finer than this effort. Also back are director Shekar Kapur, Editor Jill Billcock, and great DP Remi Adefarasin as well as the Oscar winning makeup and hair by Jenny Shircore. This is sumptuous to look at, but it's not up to snuff with the first, which was my choice for the best film of 1998. |
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