Elizabeth (HD DVD)

I am ashamed to say this was the first time I had ever seen Elizabeth. Perhaps this film is talked about as much for its quality as it is for its award controversy. I can't think of an Oscar year people were more surprised as Gwyneth Paltrow took home the Best Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love over Cate Blanchett, when most were certain Cate would take it home for her portrayal of the iconic Queen of England.

As much as everyone knows the name of Cate Blanchett now, in 1998 she was a newcomer to the world of big budget films. Her performance in Elizabeth made her an instant star and a name to watch. Director Shekhar Kapur knew what he was doing when he cast her and has oddly stayed clear from feature films since Elizabeth. He directed the dead on arrival feature The Four Feathers, but is returning to the big screen with his follow-up to Elizabeth with Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which is the main reason this film is being released on HD DVD as well as in the form of a Collector's Edition DVD.

Elizabeth follows the rise of a woman known to her country as a Protestant heretic and a bastard child. Tried for treason at age 21 and then crowned Queen at the age of 25 following the death of her half-sister Queen Mary Tudor. Knowing this it's not a stretch to say that Elizabeth faced an uphill battle. Unmarried and without an heir her thrown is extremely volatile as everyone, including the Catholic church, stands to gain by her death or overthrow. This film is filled with political power plays, religious quandaries, villains from all corners and fantastic performances from everyone involved.

It should come as no surprise that a film including names such as Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough, Emily Mortimer, Vincent Cassel and John Gielgud would be good. Even lesser known Christopher Eccleston as the Duke of Norfolk (Claude the Invisible Man for you "Heroes" fans) is fantastic, as is Daniel Craig in a limited role as a vicious servant of the Vatican. Rush is wonderful in something of a silent assassin role as Walsingham and it is amazing that Fiennes would be cast in two such similar roles to be released in the same year and pull each of them off with equal greatness.

After watching Elizabeth I am certainly part of the camp that believes Blanchett should have won the Oscar, but that aside there is no way it should have lost the Art Direction and Costume Design awards to Shakespeare as well. On HD DVD this film looks fantastic as it is filled with so much brilliant color and costumes. Many of the costumes in Shakespeare remained the same throughout whereas, here, everyone is required to wear a different costume in virtually every scene and all are uniquely brilliant. Hell, Cassel in a dress is worth the Oscar alone.

In regards for this HD DVD, there is really nothing to speak of in terms of special features outside of a mini-preview of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which looks fantastic by the way. Samantha Morton alone looks like she is going to be reason enough to watch as her character, Mary - Queen of Scots, gives the second half of the film reason to exist and must be as believable as possible. As for the rest of the features they are all regurgitations from the previously released DVD including a making-of feature, a 5 minute featurette and a rather good commentary by Kapur.

Outside of the features however this is a fantastic buy on HD. As I mentioned earlier, the colors and costumes of this film are made to be in high-definition, they simply pop off the screen and audio enthusiasts will be happy to know it comes not only with a 5.1 Digital Plus track, but a TrueHD track as well. I am certainly happy to add it to my shelf and suspect many of you will be as well. I hope the follow-up is better than early word makes it out to be, but I will reserve judgment on that until I have actually seen it.