Out of all the movies to sequelize, "Elizabeth" was near the bottom of my list of usual suspects. "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" appears to agree, turning up the volume on the elegant, glacial original film, serving up some serious visual bombast to throw off expectations and charge ahead with a sequel that wins hands down as the most defiantly outlandish, thus most delicious film of 2007.

Kapur takes the pageantry of the original and turns it into a fine arts museum, with cinematography that feels more like dabs of paint on a canvas and a production design that beats epic drums and drips with details so great, a second viewing should be required just to stare awestruck at the backgrounds. "Elizabeth" was a more controlled creation, where "Golden Age" rides off the rails, taking the legend of Elizabeth to the next level of mythology. Frankly, the acceleration is bliss.

R1 DVD

The anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation of "Golden Age" is gorgeous. The DVD handles the difficult desaturated images, retaining the detail of the insane cinematography while also showing off the impressive color scheme of the costumes and the magical lighting of sets to splendid effect.

The 5.1 Dolby Digital sound mix boils over stupendously when the film kicks into rock opera mode, with the soaring score and exploding cannons shaking the surround channels. The intricate dialogue and score are separated wonderfully throughout the track, but this film is meant to be played at top volume for best sonic force. The DVD meets that demand wonderfully.