Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007,

I find Shekhar Kapur's films to be a fascinating, if not entirely successful, melding of Indian and Western stylistic sensibilities. Elizabeth: The Golden Age and its predecessor embody this union perfectly - two histrionic and tone-deaf films that are, shot for shot, utterly gorgeous. Sadly, the sequel suffers wild changes of mood even more than the original did. The bulk of the film is divided between two plots, the conflict between England and Spain that culminated in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (hope that didn't spoil anyone), and the love triangle between the queen, her primary lady-in-waiting, and Sir Walter Raleigh. The former plot has some excellent aspects, utilizing the power of Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth, great Armada setpieces, and the always-welcome Samantha Morton as Mary, Queen of Scots*. The love story is ridiculous, laughable at points. I've never quite seen Clive Owen so out of his depth as Raleigh, and poor Abbie Cornish fares even worse - I feel bad for the girl when she's up against Blanchett in a scene. But even Blanchett's performance suffers from the yo-yo nature of the film, losing the careful modulation of the original and devolving into occasional hysterics. I'll watch pretty much anything Kapur makes just to watch it, as so few filmmakers in the West have such a glorious and colorful visual style, but I can't say that I've seen a film of his that I could call an unquestionable success.

*During the execution scene, Morton looks exactly like Bjork. No lie. I was half expecting a music video to break out before the beheading was through.