An actress whom I consider among the greats of this generation, and a director of far less stature coming out of a Bollywood orientation have, in an artistic collaboration, made a huge miscalculation. Sometimes the desire to work together again after having made a surprise splash on the Hollywood and worldwide scene, shouldn't translate into a sequel. In this case, the attempt to pull a movie together out of wholecloth shows, and the result is a historical yawner that the world of film would have been better without, though there are reasons to see it with the proper reality check.

With so many prior films covering the same royal court, albeit from countless different perspectives, the history encompassed in this one almost doesn't have to be recounted, but here goes because of its variations on the theme:

It's 1585 in the English empire and during the reign of Elizabeth, who has come to be known as the virgin Queen, for she has taken no man with whom to share her realm and her bed. As an issue of some consternation, even politically, close advisor Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) politely brings it up again and she accepts being courted by scads of royal suitors. Only royalty may apply.

Full well knowing what the outcome will be because of the homely royal riff raff that always turn up for this sorry spectacle, she is struck out of her wits by a daring and dashing gentleman described as a pirate. This accusation comes from the Spanish coutiers who have just lost a fortune in plunder to the man, aka, Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), an explorer, not a royal.

Here, writer Michael Hirst and William Nicholson come up with a device that's a lesson in chivalric opening ploys to attract a lady. He throws his cape over a puddle of water just before she's about to step in it. Then, as the guy's too raffishly handsome with audaciousness to go with the looks, a brief verbal interchange follows, which results in an audience with the queen that has a lusty edge to it.

Intrigued by his stories of sailing the high seas, she is mesmerized by his exploits, his dazzling imagery, and his detailed telling of reaching land and discovering the continent that will later be known as America. Moreover, he has named a territory Virginia in her honor, with th hopes of returning under her backing to create an English settlement. All of which, with Owen at his manly best, begins a romance of great difficulty but special closeness.

With all her power, she's a constrained individual. On the other hand, Raleigh blows a fresh breeze of freedom between the suffocating castle walls.

Whilst this is being played out, England comes closer and closer to an invasion by Spain, whose tyrranical King Phillip II holds as an heretical land requiring his conquest and conversion to his own Catholic beliefs. He is preparing for it by decimating half the forests of Spain for the wood to build the largest armada yet known. Elizabeth doesn't seem to be doing anything by way of preparation, so distracted is she by the new light that shines upon her awareness as a woman who is still in the game.

No history is complete without a little castle intrigue, and this comes from the likelihood of betrayal by Elizabeth's cousin Mary Stuart (Samantha Morton) who is confined to her palace rooms for her suspected anarchy. This oversize wretch of a woman has been fulfilling her destiny by dispatching secret letters by way of a clandestine group aiming to assassinate the queen.

The atmosphere, rife with suspicion, plots and competitive forces, is not unlike all such palace melodramas. I do believe that the excitement of Blanchett's burst of talent and extraordinary vitality made her first "Elizabeth," in 1998, the best one of the lot. The flaring of her torch is indelible. But this many years later, and some 25 starring roles of a completely diverse nature, the phenomenon of is not to be repeated with this sequel. Based on the publicity campaign, its trailers, appearances and photos everywhere, I looked forward to this film like few others. Except for the astonishing parade of costumery, I was disappointed.

Though the faithfulness to history might be argued, the treatment of it goes wanting, being given nearly beside-the-point weight. Evidence of it comes at the end, which is our first glimpse of Elizabeth astride a horse, in armor, firing up her troops. Until that scene, we have no assurance that she has troops. The issue of military strength and political alliances receive relatively minor attention in the melodrama ensuing within palatial walls.

The core of the storytelling inadequcy, it seems to me, is the central relationship. Director Shekhar Kapur and his writing team wrote themselves into a corner from the git go by making the central relationship one that couldn't be consummated. It may be corny against such splendor and themes of war that unrequited love becomes so big a problem for a film, but unless it's compensated for by other means and elements, it puts a story on a course for disaster. Emotional disappointment is no way to satisfy an audience. They tried to twist around this dramatic exigency, but without much success.

However, nice try. And very pretty on all counts. I remain in love with Blanchett; and Owen is still m'man.

                                      ~~  Jules Brenner