Elizabeth

In Brief: Fie on those who have trashed this entertainingly overheated historical conceit! Yes, it’s completely indefensible as history. So what else is new? Anyone going to a movie like this expecting historical accuracy is in the same unseaworthy vessel as the student who watches James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and uses it to turn in a book report on Mary Shelley’s novel. So, you wonder, after cataloging Elizabeth's amassed nonsense, why I am awarding the film 3 1/2 stars and heaping coals on its detractors? Simple: All this swashbuckling, scenery-chewing, way-past-ripe absurdity is glorious fun. It's shaky history and overblown filmmaking that's fun if not approached as more than it is. This excerpt was taken from a review by Ken Hanke published on Oct. 17, 2007.