Anonymous - I enjoyed this (and I didn't mean to)  

I don't know why I ever watched this. It was only because it was a new film that I bothered to put it in the DVD player. Therefore I had absolutely no expectations from it.

At first I was confused. Everyone in the past apparently looked the same, i.e. beards and ruffs and Baldrick lookalikes for servants. However, I stuck with it. And I'm glad I did.

I'm not big on history, so I won't (or can't) comment on its historical accuracy, but it was a damn enjoyable romp nonetheless.

It makes the claim that Shakespeare didn't write is plays, but, instead, there was a larger conspiracy at work and someone else did. Now, I don't know whether this was really true or not, but, it's fun to watch.

Once you establish which beard is which and which beard is actually a younger incarnation of a beard in the future (as there are a lot of flashbacks showing what the beards were doing when they were younger), you can actually follow the conspiracy and see which beard comes out on top. As it's filled with plenty of beheading, back-stabbing and political treachery, it's actually more entertaining than you might think.

A happy filmic surprise.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one