ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Noelle The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

lampic Perhaps the reason why 16th century queen attracts so many greatest actresses is the fact that Elizabeth I was actress herself - her whole life was a perpetual act where not only she had to balance all kinds of power games, but her life was a public stage with no privacy whatsoever and everybody from courtiers to assassins wanted something from her: what kind of curse this was to her I can't even imagine, but lady herself must have been aware that she can hardly trust anybody.If you can erase the memories of so many excellent actresses who preceded Helen Mirren, this is a very enjoyable two-part TV drama (advertised as mini-series, whatever) filmed in sensational locations built in Lithuania (Tudor court looks amazingly real - not glamorous but practical, decorated but still a labyrinth of crowded halls where people watch every step you make). To be honest, all the other memories fade away when I'm watching this - everything from the script, dialogs, costumes to acting in superb. First part has Elizabeth constantly fighting off marriage proposals and juggling one country for another, trusting only her chief advisers and her old favorite Earl of Leicester Jeremy Irons). "What is crown, when love's voice speaks to us?" she sighs when alone with Leicester, who is the only courtier brave enough to tell her things she don't want to hear.The second part has already aging queen falling for Leicester's stepson (Hugh Dancy) but she is no fool - the toy boy is only good as long as he plays her game, as soon as he steps out of line, the head goes off, she is true daughter of Henry VIII after all. This is hardly the only head chopped off here, there are many quite brutal scenes including historically accurate beheading of Mary Stewart. To all who criticize fictive meeting between Elizabeth and Mary Stewart, I would just say - this is too good scene to be missed. And the fact we have no surviving documents about it, don't mean it didn't happen. As always Mirren is magnetic - firm, stubborn, playful, coquettish, sentimental and cruel, she has it all. It is quite an achievement to make Elizabeth a believable, human person under all those elaborate costumes and wigs, but great actress she is, Mirren dominates the scene and she wears the clothes, not the other way around. Those closest to her are all excellent, including Jeremy Irons, Hugh Dancy, Toby Jones, Patrick Malahide and Ian McDiarmid - even Barbara Flynn as unlucky Mary Stewart completely fits to a description what she must have been like. Absorbing and absolutely recommended.

eyesour Once again the strange star rating system recorded by IMDb fools yours truly. How come this gets 8 stars, when Blanchett and Kapur get only 7.5 for their first offering? I was persuaded to buy this DVD because of the 8 stars, and now feel deceived. Helen Mirren is a very good, and sometimes a great actress. She can be absolutely riveting, and Irons isn't exactly bad. So it's not their faults. It must be the writing and directing that made me yawn. It's the direct lack of direction, in point of fact. The narrative ambles amiably along, pointlessly, now and then intercut with some gratuitous torture, bungled executions, disembowellings etc, which seem to be inserted merely in order to jolt the audience out of their danger of dozing off. There's no overall vision, no palpable theme to interest, engage and stimulate the viewer. Instead his mind wanders: he wonders why the whole presentation looks so cheap, almost amateurish. Lack of genuine ideas, general tiredness.

didi-5 Another version of the story of Elizabeth I may have been redundant, but Helen Mirren is really exceptional as the ageing queen trapped by her own stature in life, unable to love or be loved as anyone else unshackled by monarchy could be.Slightly different in story to other versions, this has Leicester throughout the first episode (which also introduces Essex), and then the second episode concentrates on the ruthless ambition of the Earl of Essex, the late favourite of Elizabeth's in old age.Beautifully shot and well-scripted, and with good supporting performances from the likes of Patrick Malahide and Toby Jones, this Elizabeth isn't a dark political thriller like Cate Blanchett's first appearance in the role, or detached from emotion like Glenda Jackson's classic TV performance. Mirren's Elizabeth is almost woman first and queen second.

Brigid O Sullivan (wisewebwoman) This actor never ceases to amaze me. Having seen her riveting performance in "The Queen" for which she was justly and rightly awarded The Oscar, I could hardly wait to get my eyes on this and I was not disappointed.The story has been retold over and over, the reign of the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. Good Queen Bess. This production brings a freshness and humanity to this long(4 hour) tale, but every minute counts and I, for one, sighed when it was over, I wanted more.The costumes are incredible, the historical detail superb and Helen brings a humanity to the part that at times is heartbreaking. One understands the turmoil inside, she has not managed to secure a suitable husband or bear a child to inherit the throne. The script brings this humanity to the surface but also the strength of the monarch beneath. A monarch who won every battle, every contest. I could only envision Helen doing the script justice.Jeremy Irons as the Earl of Leichester plays well against her superb talent, bringing the devotion of years of service and love of her to the surface. A love that can never be legalized as he is considered unsuitable for her hand in marriage. The sensuous nature of this love is palpable as he and Mirren interact and weave their intimacies (and none of her relationships were ever consummated) into an intensity that is enthralling.The supporting cast are brilliant, hard to single any one out but it includes Patrick Malahide as Sir Frances Walsingham, Toby Jones (one of my personal favourites - he nails his roles) as Robert Cecil, who works his way to the forefront of the Queen's life even though she refers to him scathingly as "Pygmy", and Ian McDiarmid as William Cecil, a.k.a. Lord Burghley, father of Robert.The delicious Hugh Dancy plays Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex. Two sided, self-serving and ingratiating. But lovely. Elizabeth falls hard and sometimes publicly. She is no fool though, with any one of her courtiers. "Off with their heads" is a frequent occurrence and the result is quite graphic and not for young eyes, or older ones, I had to avert my head several times and wondered how on earth the graphic disemboweling, beheading and quartering was done. The beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, is particularly gruesome from what I saw through my fingers.Not to be missed for fans of historical, epic costume dramas. 9 out of 10. Bravo to all.