Elizabeth

Movie Information

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.
Score:

Genre: Historical Drama
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Abbie Cornish, Samantha Morton
Rated: PG-13

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Elizabeth on Sunday, April 22, at 2 p.m. in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

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About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

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One thought on “Elizabeth

  1. Big Al

    Clive Owen was NOT in this film, but in the sequel “Elizabeth: the Golden Age” as Sir Walter Raleigh.

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