Rating: NR
Length: 232 minutes

Widescreen 1.78:1 Color (Anamorphic)

ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 2.0
SPANISH: Dolby Digital 2.0

English, French, Spanish

This HBO film portrays Queen Elizabeth I in the latter years of her reign. It starts out by trying to find a suitable husband for the aging queen before she's too old to bear a child and ends with her death.

To make a 3.5 hour movie about the life of one person requires a very strong actor to play that individual to keep the audience's attention; the people at HBO hit a grand slam home run with Helen Mirren (for which she was rightfully awarded an Emmy, a SAG & Golden Globe Award for best actress). It's a joy to watch not only her range of emotions during this trying time but also all of the political intrigue that's going on in the background. Before you begin to think she's the only one on the screen, she is surrounded by a very fine group of actors including an extremely strong Jeremy Irons in a non-villainous role. The costumes and sets were first rate; it had to have been hell for the Queen to get dressed/undressed for formal events.

The audio is only Dolby Digital 2.0; that really isn't so bad because this film mostly consists of conversations not action but there were times when 5.1 or better were missed. For those of you hoping to see a grand battle between the English and Spanish fleets, no such luck. But do not despair, if you're looking for gore there are a couple of lovely beheadings and disembowelments to make up for it.

• Making of "Elizabeth I"
• Uncovering the Real Elizabeth I

I am not caught up on my 16th Century English History so I can not confirm that this movie is completely accurate but I can confirm that this is a very entertaining film that will captivate and hold an audience for its entire runtime. If you want to see what superb acting looks like then you owe it to yourself to watch the lovely and talented Helen Mirren show you. If , like me, you thought her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen was good you haven't seen anything yet. Give this film a shot!

Jérémie Covillault - Duke of Anjou

Hugh Dancy - Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex

[Black Hawk Down, King Arthur]

Erick Deshors - Jean de Simier

Barbara Flynn - Mary Queen of Scots

Jeremy Irons - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester

[Die Hard With a Vengeance, Dungeons & Dragons, Eragon, Kindgom of Heaven, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Mission]

Toby Jones - Robert Cecil

[The Mist]

Diana Kent - Lady Essex

[Jason and the Argonauts]

Patrick Malahide - Sir Francis Walsingham

[U.S. Marshals]

Ian McDiarmid - William Cecil, Lord Burghley

[Dragonslayer, Sleepy Hollow, Star Wars Episodes I/II/III/VI]

John McEnery - Jesuit Priest

[Merlin]

Helen Mirren - Queen Elizabeth I

[2010, Excalibur, Gosford Park, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, National Treasure 2, The Queen]

Toby Salaman - Dr. Lopez

Martin Savage - Stubbs

Geoffrey Streatfield - Sir Anthony Babington

Simon Woods - Gifford