Cate Blanchett As Queen Elizabeth In 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age'
Finally, Queen Cate reigns again in Hollywood. Almost 10 years after her breakout performance as Elizabeth I - the role that introduced Cate Blanchett to Hollywood and bestowed on her the aura of thespian nobility - she has resumed the throne. Blanchett took her time to give her assent to a sequel to Shekhar Kapur's 1998 film. The script had to make the case for going back to it, she says. In between, she snagged an Oscar for playing Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator. The early reaction to Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which so far has been released only in the US, has been less giddy than it was for the original. But if there has been one constant about Blanchett's film career, it's this: critics can damn the film and exalt the star all in one sentence. Trade paper Variety's take on the second Elizabeth: "It's a bravura, Oscar-calibre turn from Blanchett. But the film, as pageantry-fashion parade of a sequel, is two notches below the first film." The new film...