laurakay76

I have watched "The Last Airbender." It was bad. I have watched "Manos: The Hands of Fate." It was pretty terrible. I have watched "The Star Wars Holiday Special." It was, until now, the worst thing I had ever seen in my life. Congratulations, Fifty Shades, you are actually worse than the worst thing ever. You were based on a book that was so badly written it's hard to believe that English is the author's first language, not to mention a book that didn't contain a lick of research into actual BDSM practices. And I'm not even going to talk about how the third book in the trilogy from hell contains a scene which sexualized an unborn child - something that made me literally throw up in my mouth when I saw it. Now, the film version of the worst book ever written is officially the worst film ever made. We have hit rock bottom, folks.

This is easily one of the best movies I have seen all year. Cate Blanchett is unrivaled; if she doesn't receive a nomination for Best Actress, I will be shocked. The supporting cast is brilliant; the costuming is superb and the cinematography is glorious.

I do have one complaint about the film, which is why I gave it a 9 instead of a full 10. Several scenes take place in Spain, with King Philip (and his ever-present, never-speaking daughter, whose purpose seems to be window dressing). Naturally, because they are set in Spain, all of the dialogue in these scenes is either in Spanish or Latin. Since I don't speak either language, I had pretty much no idea what was happening in these scenes. I wouldn't expect Spanish scenes to be presented in English, of course, but subtitles would have been helpful.

Apart from the language barrier, I very much enjoyed this movie and would see it again. It's one of those rare sequels that manages to surpass the original.