Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
75
(30 sources)
75
(30 sources)
-
100
Mr. Showbiz
This historical epic about the "virgin queen" of England's early life moves with the crackling urgency of a contemporary political thriller. Read Full Review » -
90
Washington Post
The fabulous Elizabeth reinvents English Tudor history as gangster movie. Read Full Review » -
90
Variety
Superior historical soap opera that shrewdly sidesteps all the cliches of British costume drama with its bold, often modern approach. Read Full Review » -
90
Washington Post
Where Elizabeth really triumphs over its dusty source material is in transforming all this boring history into a real, rip-roaring adventure tale. Read Full Review » -
90
Film.com
What's best about the film is not the hot romance, but the coldness that lies at its heart. Read Full Review » -
88
Chicago Sun-Times
The texture of the film is enough to recommend it, even apart from the story. Read Full Review » -
88
-
83
Entertainment Weekly
This is a sensual, psychologically modern costume drama influenced by both "The Godfather" and gals' guides to empowerment. Read Full Review » -
80
Salon.com
A handsome, diverting coming-of-intrigue story studded with meaty performances. Read Full Review » -
80
Village Voice
Elizabeth's most triumphant aspect is Blanchett's transformation from saucy, spirited toe-tapper to iconic Virgin Queen. Read Full Review » -
80
-
80
The New York Times
This Elizabeth is presented as a glamorously stressed-out modern woman who must cope with a super-intense case of having it all. Read Full Review » -
80
-
80
Time
This darkly sumptuous, hypnotically complex movie ought to have many constituencies. Read Full Review » -
80
Los Angeles Times
Period movies inevitably reflect more about the period in which they're made than the period of their subject, and rarely has that been more evident -- or more distracting -- than it is with Elizabeth. Read Full Review » -
78
Austin Chronicle
Despite the florid trailers' emphasis on bodice-ripping romantic imagery, Elizabeth is above all a political thriller. Read Full Review » -
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Elizabeth works in a number of ways. It's a feminist film. It's also a kind of spy thriller and a superior historical drama. Read Full Review » -
75
-
75
San Francisco Examiner
History rendered with enough brains and imagination to more than make up for its few stumbles. Read Full Review » -
75
ReelViews
It's a rousing adventure that keeps the audience involved for the entirety of the two hour running time while opening a window into the culture that gave birth to Christopher Marlowe, Edmund Spenser, Francis Bacon, and William Shakespeare. Read Full Review » -
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Bad history it may be, but Elizabeth is a movie that makes you want more, as it plays to the myth of history's great actress-monarch, a character who puts today's tinselly political heros and heroines (royal and not), to shame. Read Full Review » -
70
Rolling Stone
The film belongs to Blanchett -- this hellcat Virgin Queen is something to see. Read Full Review » -
70
Newsweek
Kapur can't decide if he's making an art movie or a melodrama, an opera or a soap opera. Read Full Review » -
70
New Times (L.A.)
Although frustratingly confusing -- often the viewer can't be sure who is on which side or why -- the film brims with physical grandeur, exquisite costumes, and a captivating performance by Blanchett. Read Full Review » -
63
Chicago Tribune
The movie -- directed in such a frenziedly self-conscious style you often wonder whether the camera will topple over on his actors. Read Full Review » -
60
The Onion (A.V. Club)
But much of it, like its subject, is so cryptic, distractingly stylish, and impenetrably posed that it's rough going most of the way. Read Full Review » -
60
Chicago Reader
Whether the story's bald ironies are historical cliches or just dramatic ones, they convey only platitudes about gender, sexuality, and power. Read Full Review » -
60
TV Guide
The conspicuous lack of emotional resonance makes this film "Queen Margot's" poor cold English cousin. Read Full Review » -
50
USA Today
A notably undynamic treatment of Protestant Elizabeth I's ascension to the British throne. Read Full Review » -
30
Film Threat
All of the nutty editing and the loud score just grated on my nerves and failed the story. Read Full Review »
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