All-in-all, this is a good sequel to the original...
Video:
Universal presents "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" as an HD-DVD / DVD Combo Format release and the DVD platter is glued to the backside of the HD-DVD release. The high definition side of the disc is by far the more impressive looking version of the film and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" nearly matches the strong visuals of the first film, "Elizabeth." The golds, blues, reds and greens of 1585 royalty look absolutely perfect and they are saturated without issue and show strong contrast. Detail is again strong and the expensive looking costumes show strong detail, as does the stone textures of the sets and each hair on Elizabeth´s wig. I could almost cut and paste my entire review of the "Elizabeth" visuals if it wasn´t for a handful of scenes that appeared overly soft and presented a little more grain than what is typical for an HD-DVD release from last year. Black levels are also week throughout the film and nowhere near as impressive as what the first film possessed. This HD-DVD release of "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" reminds me more at times of the original Polygram DVD release of "Elizabeth" and not the recent HD-DVD version. Aside from the grain, the source materials are clean and clear.
Audio:
One thing can be said about this sequel; it sounds better. The English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track is aggressive at times and impressive. The most dynamic and tell-tale scene is during the attack by the Spanish Armada. The .1 LFE channel rumbles heavily with each fired cannon ball or the crashing of ships. Rear surrounds provide a wealth of ambient and environmental information, as well as a few nice directional effects throughout the film. The musical score by Craig Armstrong and Ar Rahman is very nicely presented by the TrueHD mix and moves across all channels with warmth and depth. I didn´t hear the amazingly sharp horns that I noticed during "Elizabeth," but the music sounded excellent. Dialogue is quite clear and even the hardest British accent is easy to hear and understand. About the only thing holding "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" from being truly golden is the great number of sequences that take place in small and closed chambers that allows most of the speakers to go silent for great lengths. When opportunity presents itself, the soundtrack excels.
Extras:
The HD-DVD / DVD Combo Format release of "Elizabeth" finds a few nice supplements on the HD-DVD side of the dual-sided disc. First up is another Feature Commentary with Director Shekhar Kapur Kapur´s vocal delivering has improved since the commentary he provided for "Elizabeth" and this track is similar in tone to the previous commentary. Kapur talks about the artistic liberties he took with history and explains some rationale for a couple changes. The director´s view is that he was making a film about Elizabeth´s character and not her history, so he made changes that better suited the spirit of the Queen. Although a little dry, this is a detail heavy and honest commentary track that is worth a listen. I don´t agree with everything Kapur says, but he is knowledgeable, passionate about his work and knows how to convey his thoughts to his audience.
A handful of other supplements are provided. A short collection of Deleted Scenes (8:48) finds a quick title card for each deleted scene and then the excised material. The scenes are letterboxed and pillarboxed and are not visually impressive, nor do they had much to the 115 minute long film. They were worth a quick gander. The brief The Reign Continues: Making Elizabeth: The Golden Age (11:22) finds the three primary actors and the film´s director discussing their involvement with the film. They actors provide a little insight into their characters and for only eleven minutes in length, this was a pretty decent making of featurette. Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush talk about their roles in comparison to the two films and this made the feature all the more valuable.
Vokswagen continues to help Universal finance the supplements on certain HD-DVD releases and this time they sponsor a little feature called Inside Elizabeth´s Word (7:24). This feature looks at the striking visual appeal of the film and is an extension of "The Reign Continues." Commanding the Winds: Creating the Armada (12:03) looks at the exhilarating naval combat scenes in the film. I enjoyed this feature that showed the digital steps taken and it was more entertaining than the final supplement, Towers, Courts and Cathedrals (10:43), which focused on the film´s sets. The supplements did a nice job of looking at the multiple facets of making this sequel to "Elizabeth," but it was simply one larger making-of feature broken down into pieces, with one segment being brought to you by Volkswagen. Universal also provides some promotional Web-Based Content.
Closing Comments:
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is a decent sequel to the 1998 film "Elizabeth." Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush are again excellent in their roles and bring about new angles on their characters that show the years that have passed in both story and their age since the first movie. Sadly, the supporting cast is not nearly as strong after you move past the talented Clive Owen. The film is again a visual masterpiece and the inclusion of more digital affects allows director Shekhar Kapur to bring about a larger and more captivating look at England during the late 1500s. The HD-DVD contains a very solid sounding TrueHD mix and a slightly less than impressive set of visuals that is marred by inconsistency. The bonus materials contains a few deleted scenes, a commentary track and a making-of feature broken into parts and ten minutes of it was presented by Volkswagen. All-in-all, this is a good sequel to the original, but doesn´t contain nearly as strong of a story and feels somewhat repetitive and slow. The first film is far superior, but fans of that film will certainly want to invest time in this sequel. Now, we just have to sit back for ten years and see if Kapur makes it a trilogy with the eventual end of Elizabeth´s reign.
Universal presents "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" as an HD-DVD / DVD Combo Format release and the DVD platter is glued to the backside of the HD-DVD release. The high definition side of the disc is by far the more impressive looking version of the film and "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" nearly matches the strong visuals of the first film, "Elizabeth." The golds, blues, reds and greens of 1585 royalty look absolutely perfect and they are saturated without issue and show strong contrast. Detail is again strong and the expensive looking costumes show strong detail, as does the stone textures of the sets and each hair on Elizabeth´s wig. I could almost cut and paste my entire review of the "Elizabeth" visuals if it wasn´t for a handful of scenes that appeared overly soft and presented a little more grain than what is typical for an HD-DVD release from last year. Black levels are also week throughout the film and nowhere near as impressive as what the first film possessed. This HD-DVD release of "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" reminds me more at times of the original Polygram DVD release of "Elizabeth" and not the recent HD-DVD version. Aside from the grain, the source materials are clean and clear.
Audio:
One thing can be said about this sequel; it sounds better. The English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track is aggressive at times and impressive. The most dynamic and tell-tale scene is during the attack by the Spanish Armada. The .1 LFE channel rumbles heavily with each fired cannon ball or the crashing of ships. Rear surrounds provide a wealth of ambient and environmental information, as well as a few nice directional effects throughout the film. The musical score by Craig Armstrong and Ar Rahman is very nicely presented by the TrueHD mix and moves across all channels with warmth and depth. I didn´t hear the amazingly sharp horns that I noticed during "Elizabeth," but the music sounded excellent. Dialogue is quite clear and even the hardest British accent is easy to hear and understand. About the only thing holding "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" from being truly golden is the great number of sequences that take place in small and closed chambers that allows most of the speakers to go silent for great lengths. When opportunity presents itself, the soundtrack excels.
Extras:
The HD-DVD / DVD Combo Format release of "Elizabeth" finds a few nice supplements on the HD-DVD side of the dual-sided disc. First up is another Feature Commentary with Director Shekhar Kapur Kapur´s vocal delivering has improved since the commentary he provided for "Elizabeth" and this track is similar in tone to the previous commentary. Kapur talks about the artistic liberties he took with history and explains some rationale for a couple changes. The director´s view is that he was making a film about Elizabeth´s character and not her history, so he made changes that better suited the spirit of the Queen. Although a little dry, this is a detail heavy and honest commentary track that is worth a listen. I don´t agree with everything Kapur says, but he is knowledgeable, passionate about his work and knows how to convey his thoughts to his audience.
A handful of other supplements are provided. A short collection of Deleted Scenes (8:48) finds a quick title card for each deleted scene and then the excised material. The scenes are letterboxed and pillarboxed and are not visually impressive, nor do they had much to the 115 minute long film. They were worth a quick gander. The brief The Reign Continues: Making Elizabeth: The Golden Age (11:22) finds the three primary actors and the film´s director discussing their involvement with the film. They actors provide a little insight into their characters and for only eleven minutes in length, this was a pretty decent making of featurette. Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush talk about their roles in comparison to the two films and this made the feature all the more valuable.
Vokswagen continues to help Universal finance the supplements on certain HD-DVD releases and this time they sponsor a little feature called Inside Elizabeth´s Word (7:24). This feature looks at the striking visual appeal of the film and is an extension of "The Reign Continues." Commanding the Winds: Creating the Armada (12:03) looks at the exhilarating naval combat scenes in the film. I enjoyed this feature that showed the digital steps taken and it was more entertaining than the final supplement, Towers, Courts and Cathedrals (10:43), which focused on the film´s sets. The supplements did a nice job of looking at the multiple facets of making this sequel to "Elizabeth," but it was simply one larger making-of feature broken down into pieces, with one segment being brought to you by Volkswagen. Universal also provides some promotional Web-Based Content.
Closing Comments:
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" is a decent sequel to the 1998 film "Elizabeth." Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush are again excellent in their roles and bring about new angles on their characters that show the years that have passed in both story and their age since the first movie. Sadly, the supporting cast is not nearly as strong after you move past the talented Clive Owen. The film is again a visual masterpiece and the inclusion of more digital affects allows director Shekhar Kapur to bring about a larger and more captivating look at England during the late 1500s. The HD-DVD contains a very solid sounding TrueHD mix and a slightly less than impressive set of visuals that is marred by inconsistency. The bonus materials contains a few deleted scenes, a commentary track and a making-of feature broken into parts and ten minutes of it was presented by Volkswagen. All-in-all, this is a good sequel to the original, but doesn´t contain nearly as strong of a story and feels somewhat repetitive and slow. The first film is far superior, but fans of that film will certainly want to invest time in this sequel. Now, we just have to sit back for ten years and see if Kapur makes it a trilogy with the eventual end of Elizabeth´s reign.
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[release]22741[/release]